Sabaku no Natsu
by GenericUsename359
Summary: The hatred for Gaara never left the people of Suna. One night, they rebel. Violently. Gaara is forced to send his son Natsu to an unknown dimension to save his life. Not so ideal for Natsu, but definitely ideal for a certain red dragon looking for someone to teach. (OP/Strong Natsu. Six Paths, Particle Style, Sand Control)
1. CH-1: Sand's Rebellion

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to Naruto or Fairy Tail.**

 **FYI this is my first story, and I'm still practicing so please review and tell me what I can do better!**

Normal Talking/ _Thoughts_ / **Jutsu/Dragons/Tailed-Beasts**

Natsu had never run so fast in his short 5 years of life in Suna. He was frantically trying to keep away from the villagers, who were trying to capture him to use as a hostage against Gaara. Racing by places where he spent hours upon hours playing, eating, and training. Just looking at them almost brought tears to his eyes as he remembered the fond memories of those places.

 _"Natsu, do you know what we're doing here today?" Gaara says with his normal emotionless tone._

 _"No, can I please go play with Shikadai today? Pleeease?" Natsu complains with a whiny voice. Gaara shakes his head slowly and sighs._

 _"No Natsu, today we are going to be training you to control your sand manipulation that you seemed to have inherited from me."_

 _Natsu's eyes grow as wide as dinner plates for a second as he gets an excited face that could match that of Naruto's. "REALLY?! When do we start?! Are we going to learn your awesome sand wave move?!"_

 _Gaara chuckles softly and speaks. "Not quite yet Natsu, we need to get the basics down first, but I'm sure you'll become an expert in no time though!"_

 _Natsu starts visibly shaking from excitement, he jumps up and tackles Gaara with a huge hug._  
 _"Thank you... dad."_

Rubbing a tear from his eye he ran past the park where he first trained with his sand manipulation, he maintained his frantic pace and kept running to the village center where he knew the last of his father's allies would be.

 _He still could not believe the village would do this. After all Gaara had done for the village, even protecting it from Deidara at the cost of his own life, and leading the allied shinobi forces, they still managed to find their old hate of the Shukaku, even if it was no longer sealed within him. It was even enough so that the village would actually REBEL against Gaara. There were, however, a few who could see clearly and remained loyal to him. There were just not enough._

Natsu could see that things were not going well for his dad's forces. They were being pushed back, and were almost at the point where they would be forced to retreat to the village center. He began to hear the sounds of the villagers close behind him, and started running faster. Often playing in the village, Natsu knew where all the shortcuts were to get around. He ducked into a dark ally, where he knew the villagers would never look. Watching the villagers run past the ally where he was currently hiding, he failed to notice something sticking out of the ground right in front of him. He fell to the ground in a heap. Getting up, he leaned against a wall, trying to clear his head of the dizziness. Feeling alright again, he began to look around. Deeming the place safe enough, he started to run again, but something had caught his attention. Looking over to where he had tripped, he saw something sticking out of the ground. Walking over to it, he realized that it was the handle of a sword, with the blade still buried within the ground. The ground must have been blown away by all the fighting... But why would a sword be buried here? Natsu thought to himself. Natsu realized this object could be dangerous, but his curiosity got the better of him. Against his better judgement, he reached for the handle, and using all the strength he could muster, pulled the blade out of the ground.

As soon as the blade was free, he could feel the the evil coming off the blade. It radiated pure hate and malice, as if it was the blade of a demon. Getting a better look at it however, he noticed that it was amazingly well crafted, and was still in perfect condition. He continued to inspect the incredible blade, until he noticed some words inscribed on it, as well as a scroll of paper hanging of the end of the blade. He read the words inscribed on the blade.

 _The Ebony Blade_

Natsu began to wonder. _Well, that must be the name, but what is Ebony? It must be some sort of material, but I've never once heard of it in any books I've read! Even Baki-sensei didn't mention it when he was teaching me kenjutsu..._ He decided he would ask his father, as well as Baki-sensei about it later. Taking the scroll off the end of the blade, he opened it, and read.

 _Greetings, to whoever is reading this,_

 _My time in this world is coming to an end, and I realize that this blade is far too powerful to be wielded by just anybody. So, I've used my remaining strength to cast a powerful enchantment upon this blade. The enchantment shall make it so that only someone with incredible potential shall be able to use this blade. So, a congratulations is in order I suppose? Anyways, the reason this sword is so powerful is due to the enchantments on it, as well as the incredible material it's made out of. There are three enchantments in total, not including the one I placed. I shall describe them in order._

 _The first enchantment makes the blade heal you whenever it inflicts damage upon something with lifeforce, Which happens to be every living being..._

 _The second enchantment lowers the effect of gravity upon the sword, making it exponentially easier to wield._

 _The third, and most powerful enchantment, makes the sword grow more powerful for every being you kill. However it cannot just be any being. It only works on people you have come to think of as friends to allies._

 _Well, I hope you shall use this blade effectively, and use it to help you in whatever struggles you may come to face._

 _From: The Second Kazekage, Shamon._

 _P.S I forgot to mention that the blade has maintained it's earlier power from killing the friends and allies of all the previous wielders, so... as you can probably guess, it's already incredibly powerful. Also, you have probably already noticed the evil aura the sword emits. Do not worry, this comes from the blade's original owner. However, her era has long since passed already, so it's no big deal._

Natsu stared at the message in shock. An endless amount of questions were running through his mind. _The second kazekage owned this? Who was the original owner? How did such powerful enchantments get created? Who would have killed their own friends and allies?_  
Then Natsu suddenly realized something. _The village was currently killing it's own friends and allies!_ _People are counting on me. I need to help them! I need to help mom and dad!_ Natsu grabbed the blade and ran off at top speed with newfound determination to protect his precious people.

Natsu reached the village center only to find the most horrifying scene he had ever lain his eyes on. Corpses littered the ground, most being burned, sliced, or stabbed. The ground took on a horrible red colour due to the sand that had absorbed all the blood. The buildings no longer looked like they were made of beige sandstone, they looked more like they had been constructed of rusted iron, with all the blood and gore covering them. Then Natsu saw him. Among the bodies, his head cloth and war paint stood out to Natsu like white against black. Natsu rushed over beside the fallen body of his sensei. When he laid his eyes upon the one visible, cold, lifeless eye of Baki, his sword clattered to the ground. He fell to his knees, vision blurry with tears.

"N-nno.. T-this isn't r-real... NOOOOO!" Natsu screamed to the sky.

Looking at his dead sensei one last time, he closed Baki's eye, grabbed the Ebony Blade, and stood up. Only to see an entire crowd of the people he thought he could trust, laughing at his expense with evil sneers upon their faces. His vision turned red with rage.

"WHY WOULD YOU PEOPLE DO THIS?!" Natsu roared.

The one who appeared to be their leader stepped forward. "HAHAHAH, YOU THINK WE WOULD ACTUALLY ACCEPT GAARA AS KAZEKAGE?! THAT DEMON?! NEVER. And those that follow him... ARE WEAK FOOLS WHO HAVE BEEN CONTROLLED BY THAT DAMNABLE DEMON!"  
Cheers of agreement were heard from the rest of the group.

Natsu had never been so angry in his life. These people... The people his father had risked his life saving time and time again.. Were trying to kill him? Because of a demon who used to be sealed in him? Unforgivable.

Natsu stared at them with crazed eyes and started laughing insanely. "heh.. heh heh.. HAHAHAH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!" Natsu's eyes were the eyes of a madman, his grin looked similar to that of the joker. He didn't want his sand for this. No, he was going to do this the old fashion way. He raised his sword in some sort of salute, the Ebony Blade in one hand pointing straight towards them, with his other arm cross over the sword hand at a ninety degree angle.

Natsu walked forward. "Prepare to die."

The Ebony Blade was gripped in one hand, resting over his shoulder. His other arm hung down loosely in front of him, as if it was unable to move. He was hunched over slightly, with his head down low enough that they couldn't see his face. Suddenly, he his head shot up, and looked at them with a joker-like grin before rushing at them so fast they hadn't even seen him move.

The leader was dead before he even knew what was happening. This head cut clean off the shoulders with a fountain of blood. The rest of the group looked in horror as Natsu looked at them with the same insane grin. Natsu launched forward, never stopping. He was a whirlwind of death, cutting every which way, limbs flying everywhere. His blade never stopped moving, getting stronger with every kill. He seemed to be everywhere at once, moving at speeds greater than a jounin, systematically cutting down every person in the group.

It was over in a matter of minutes. Nobody could stop him. His blade would cut clean through any kunai or katana that was in it's path. Then, all of a sudden he stopped. There was only one person left, who was holding a Kunai with a shaky grip, eyes glazed in fear. Natsu turned to him. "So you're the last one left eh?"

He fell to his knees, looked up, and replied with a shaky voice. "P-please don't k-kill me! I'll d-do anything!"

Natsu looked like he was thinking for a moment, before turning back to him with the same evil grin. "No thanks." He said, and stabbed him through the neck.

Natsu sheathed his sword and walked up to the doors of the village center. He kicked them open, only to find all the royal guards slaughtered on the floor with blood lining the cold walls. He grit his teeth and continued forward. He could here his own footsteps echo, walking through the long sandstone hallways. He arrived at the stairs only to find a similar scene as before. Reaching for the railing, began to think. _What if mom and dad were defeated? What If I was too late to save them? Bah, no way. I mean, they aren't kages for nothing, right? But what if..._ "Pfft, as if." He said to himself, shaking his head to clear himself of the horrible thought. Going up the stairs, he reached the kazekage's office to find that the door was slightly ajar. He held his breath as he pushed the stone door the rest of the way open. The door slid open to reveal his mother against the wall unconscious and his father on the floor, with a man standing over him with a sword raised ready to impale the kazekage.

Natsu's eyes turned as wide as dinner plates as he watched the scene. He pulled the Ebony Blade from it's sheath and charged with an almighty scream. He seemed to get there just in time, stabbing him through the chest before he could impale Gaara. The man fell to the floor with wide eyes and started wheezing. "N-no m-matter.. T-they will s-still d-die..." And with that he let out his final breath and stopped moving.

Natsu quickly put away his sword and rushed to his father's side. "DAD! DAD! What happened?! Are you ok?! please be ok.. please be ok.." He started muttering to himself. Then he began to look further. Gaara's body was riddled with cuts and bruises, with one particularly nasty one on his stomach. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and there was a massive gash on his forehead. His normally spiky red hair was completely matted down by blood. Tears started welling up in his eyes and he choked back a sob.

Gaara wheezed, then smiled weakly up at him. "Natsu... I'm s-sorry.. they found the weakness to my sand... Natsu... go see if Kurotsuchi is ok...

Natsu's head whipped around to his mother's form leaning against the wall. He rushed over to her with a horrified expression and frantically shook her. "MOM! MOM! Wake up!... please mom..."

Kurotsuchi started began to wake up feeling like she was just run over by a truck. She also was not looking to good. The other sleeve of her normal Iwa shinobi uniform was torn off, making it look like a vest, she had cuts all over her arms, as well as a massive cut across her face. Her raven hair was a mess, and had blood in it. Almost as if she sensed his worry, she looked up at him. "N-Natsu dear... D-don't be sad... it-it's ok honey, can you p-please c-carry me over to Gaara?

Natsu's vision was blurry with his tears, but he could still hear fine, and he could most definetly hear his mother's frantic breathing, and he knew in his heart what was happening. _Please don't, please don't die, I need you mom... please don't die, please don't die, please don-_  
He picked her up as gently as possible, and began to inch towards the downed form of Gaara.  
He softly placed her beside Gaara as they held hands. He could see the love in their eyes, flames of undying emotion, that would carry on even past their death.

"I love you, Gaara."

" I love you too, Kurotsuchi."

Natsu couldn't hold it anymore. He fell to his knees and began sobbing uncontrollably. His face was buried in his hands as he just kept crying and crying.  
Gaara and Kurotsuchi looked over with grim expressions on their faces.

"Natsu, my son, there are undoubtedly more forces that are being sent here as we speak. Kurotsuchi and I still have dribbles of chakra left to help you escape... Enough to use one more jutsu..."

Natsu looked back at him with wide eyes and a questioning look.

"The jutsu we are about to use is as ancient as Suna itself... It will send the target to another dimension... To a place known as Fiore... I know that you can have your very own grand adventure, just as a I had mine here... Before you go Natsu.. I would like you to have a few things. To remember me by...

Natsu looked at him through his tears, and sniffled a bit. "Wh-What is it t-that you're g-giving me d-dad?" Gaara pulled a scroll out of his pocket and handed it to him. "Unseal that when you arrive, Natsu. I promise that you will like it.." Natsu took the scroll and put it in his pocket. Natsu looked up at them with pain-filled eyes and rubbed his tear-stained cheek.  
"A-are you s-sure you can't come w-with me? He asked with a little bit of hope in his voice.  
"I'm sorry Natsu, but we cannot." Gaara responded with a downcast expression.

Kurotsuchi looked at her son with a pained expression and tear filled eyes. "Natsu..." She spoke very softly. "Please don't cry, we want you to be happy, and make lots of friends, and go on grand adventures in Fiore... remember Natsu, all living things eventually die; it's unavoidable. But as long as you remember, it will live on in your heart forever."

Gaara looked at Natsu with the same face as Kurotsuchi. "Natsu..." He said with love in his voice. "Be strong... Don't become shrouded in darkness as I was..." With those final words spoken, they spoke in unision. "Always remember Natsu... We will love you always."  
They then started doing handseals and spoke together.

 **Suna Hidden Technique: Dimension Hopper Jutsu**

And with one final look at his parents... Natsu blacked out.


	2. CH-2: New World

**Sorry if these chapters are really short, I'm really bad at writing detail, I'm trying to get better though, so hopefully the future chapters will be longer.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Fairy Tail or Naruto.**

Natsu woke up feeling as if he had been sleeping in an active blender. _Ugh, where am I?_ Then, as if his mind was listening to him, all the memories of the previous day came rushing back to him. _I-it's all gone... Mother, Father, Baki-sensei... even Shikadai... What do I even do? I know nothing about this world..._ finally deciding to put effort into getting up, he looked around. He appeared to be in some sort of forest. Rows upon rows of tall oak trees surrounded him on all sides. On their branches birds chirped happily as if nothing the world could ruin their mood. He could feel the lush green grass under his bare feet, which was something he was very unaccustomed to, growing up in a desert village his entire life. The sun was shining down brightly from the cloudless, blue sky, enough that Natsu had to put a hand over his eyes to be able to see. _It seems very similar to the Land of Fire... NO. I have to stop thinking about that place. I'm not even in that dimension anymore! And I'll never be able to go back..._ He grimaced and decided to start exploring the forest, figuring he would gain nothing from just sitting there all day.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

 _Man... I haven't found a single thing. Just trees, trees, and more GOD DAMNED TREES!_ *Sigh* He continued walking with a bored expression on his face, his eyes have closed. "Well, it's getting to be dark soon, and I'm going to ne"- _ **CRASH**_ _-_ His eyes shot open, and he began looking around frantically. _What the hell was that?!_ Staying low as to not be seen, he began slowly sneaking towards whatever made the sound. Pushing aside stray branches and crawling through bushes. Finally, he poked his head through the bush into the clearing where he heard the noise come from. He nearly fainted at what he saw. There, in the middle of the clearing. Was a _Dragon_. A living, breathing, dragon. _Thank god, it appears to be sleeping..._ He thought to himself. It had dark red, almost mahogany coloured scales covering most of it's body. It's stomach, as well as inner parts of it's tail, legs, and neck, were beige in colour. There was a scar over one eye, as well as an X-shaped one over it's mouth. It had a horn above it's nose, horns with black diamonds on them just above where it's ears were.

Suddenly, it's eyes snapped open, and looked exactly where he was hiding. It spoke in a deep and rumbling tone. " **I know you're there, human."**

Natsu gulped and stepped forward into the clearing. He looked at the dragon's piercing eyes. They had pure black irises, and had an almost glowing, yellow sclera. Putting his nervousness to the back of his head, he began to speak. "Hello, , I didn't mean to wake you up. I heard a loud noise, and came to check it out, when I found you sleeping here."

The dragon narrowed it's eyes at him. " **Hmm.. You are strange, little one. Most humans run with fear upon seeing me. Where are your parents?** "

Natsu looked down, his hair covering his eyes. He clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "They died, I'm on my own."

The dragon's eyes widened upon hearing this. He decided to question the boy further. " **How do you plan upon surviving out here? Do you know magic?** "

Natsu's eyes widened upon hearing this. "Magic? You mean like making stuff disappear then reappear? I mean, I know a few slight of han-"

" **You are not from this world, are you?"**

Natsu's eyes managed to widen further. "How did you know?" He asked with a questioning glare.

The dragon gave a hearty laugh at this. " **Well, little one, there is no intelligent being on this planet that doesn't know what magic is. On top of that, I can sense a foreign energy source inside of you, almost like a second set of veins."** _But you also seem to have a magic container within you..._

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the dragon. _It must be talking about my chakra network. Should I tell him my story? Well, I suppose I have nothing to lose. I've already lost everything... Forever.._ "It's true, I'm not from this world. I could tell you my story, but it would take quite a while, and I need to find a place to sleep for the night, sorry.

Natsu started to turn around and walk away, but the dragon had other ideas. " **Little one, come with me, you can stay in my den for the night in exchange for sharing your story with me.** "

Natsu looked a little shocked at this. _A dragon invited a human to it's den? In exchange for a story?_ These were no ordinary dragons from the old stories and legends, that would kill humans for fun. "Very well, I accept your offer."

The Dragon gave a toothy grin. " **Then climb on my back, we shall get there much fast by flying, I promise I won't scare you too bad."**

20 MINUTES LATER

With a loud crash the dragon landed inside it's den, with Natsu still hugging onto it's back. " **We're here, little one.** "

Saying the den was big would be an understatement. It was massive. Easily the size of three basketball courts put together, and almost twice the height of the dragon. The dragon walked to the end of the den, curled up, and motioned for Natsu to come sit beside it. Natsu looked around, while walking forward. He was simply amazed by a cave this big. He estimated it could fit at least two of the kazekage tower in it, and that was the biggest building in his village! _WAS, the biggest. Damn. I need to stop thinking about that. I can't afford to be weak in this new world..._ Eventually he got to the end of the cavern beside the dragon and sat down cross legged.

He looked up at the massive beast beside him and asked a question. "Hey, do you think you could make a fire? It's very cold and dark in here." He asked while shivering.

The dragon looked down at him with a raised an eyebrow, before letting out a sigh. " **Very well, little one.** " He blew out a little fireball that landed in front of them, almost like they were at a campfire. " **Now, tell me your story.** "

Natsu leaned back against the dragon's tail and started explaining. "You see, I was born in a place called the Elemental Nations. Don't suppose you've heard about it?"

" **I'm afraid not, little one.** "

Natsu sighed, before continuing. "Well, it was worth a shot. Anyways, In the Elemental Nations, there are five major countries. The Land of Fire, the Land of Water, the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Wind. These five represent the five chakra natures. I'll explain more about chakra later, but for now I'll continue. There are also some less important countries such as the Land of Iron, the Land of Snow, or the Land of the Sky. The five major countries are constantly at war with each other, with very few alliances ever happening.

" **That place sounds horrible...** "

Natsu looked up at the dragon with a grimace. "Indeed it was..."

" **Was?** "

Natsu continued. "You see, there was a great war, between a terrorist organization known as the Akatsuki, and the entire world."

" **You're telling me that one organization went to war against the entire world?** "

Natsu looked up annoyed at the dragon. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want you know... But before I tell you anything more, I need to explain chakra to you. Basically, chakra is what all people in the Elemental Nations have inside of them, it flows through something called chakra coils, that are somewhat like a second set of veins. If a person loses all their chakra, they die. There are five different Chakra natures. Fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning. Most people are attuned to one, or two. Each person can mold chakra to use special abilities we call Jutsu." Natsu continued on with his explanation for hours, talking about his father, the chuunin exams, the Akatsuki, and the war. Until finally he got to where Suna rebelled against Gaara.

" **YOUR VILLAGE REBELLED BECAUSE THEY WERE AFRAID OF SOMETHING YOUR FATHER** _ **USED**_ **TO HAVE SEALED IN HIM?! AND IT WASEN'T EVEN HIM?! What a horrible place...** "

Natsu just kept on talking as if he was in a trance. "... and with their final bits of power, they used an ancient technique known as the Dimension Hopper Jutsu, and sent me here. Then I woke up in that forest, and well... you know the rest..." Natsu looked like he was thinking hard for a moment, then looked like he realized something important. "Oh! That reminds me, my father gave me a scroll with things he wanted me to have. May as well open it now." Natsu pulled out the scroll Gaara gave to him.

The dragon raised one eyebrow and looked at him. " **How could that scroll contain things?** " Natsu looked up at him with a smirk, "You'll see." And with that, Natsu looked at the scroll, and extended one arm, with his hand in a half tiger seal. **RELEASE**. When he said the word, three plumes of smoke appeared from the smoke. The dragon looked at the scroll in shock. _It seems very similar to requip magic..._ Natsu on the other hand, was just looked at the items in disbelief. He was motionless for about ten full seconds, before he broke down and started sobbing. There, sitting on the scroll, was Gaara's gourd, his coat, and the Ebony Blade.

The dragon looked down at Natsu in surprise. " **Why are you crying, little one? It doesn't seem right to cry when someone gives you gifts."** Natsu wiped the tears from his eyes, and replied in shaky voice. "R-remember when I-I told you h-how my f-f-father controls sand?"

" **Yes, I remember** "

Natsu continued. "Well, this was the gourd my father used to carry around with him so he could always have sand to use... The coat is what he wore constantly, the only times he didnt wear it was when he had to wear his kazekage robes. That sword is actually the sword I told you about when I was talking about the rebellion. I assumed it hadn't been transported along with me." The dragon looked down in silence. _These items mean a lot to him. At least the gourd and the coat. I can tell he really cares for his father._ He looked up to see Natsu putting on his father's gourd, equipping the sword, and putting the coat back into the seal, as it didn't fit him yet.

The dragon looked down at Natsu and asked a question that surprised Natsu greatly. " **You told me about a time when your father trained your sand control, right?** "

Natsu looked up with a questioning frown. "Yeah, why?"

" **Well, could I see how it works?** "

Now there was a question Natsu didn't expect. _Why would it even care about what I can do? Well, I guess it wouldn't do any harm..._ "Sure. Try hitting me with your claw. I'll even close my eyes." The dragon looked at Natsu in confusion.

" **Are you sure?** "

"Yeah, just go for it." The dragon looked at him one more time and noticed something. The cap had fallen out of the gourd, and sand was slowly leaking out and pooling around his feet.

" **Alright brat, here I come!** "

The dragon tried swatting the little boy away, only to find when he got within a meter of him, the sand shot up faster than he could see and protected the boy. And the kid's eyes were still closed! The dragon was shocked. _The sand protects him of it's own accord?_

" **That's a neat ability you have there kid.** "

"Thanks . But I think I'm going to get some rest now, walking around that damn forest for hours has left me extremely tired."

" **That's alright, kid, I'll wake you up tomorrow morning.** "

THE NEXT MORNING

Natsu woke up groggily, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Then he remembered where exactly he was. _Hmm... well, not exactly how I planned things would go in this new world, but at least I got a place to sleep for the night. And meeting a real dragon wasn't exactly a downside either. Maybe dragons were kind beings in this world?_ Then Natsu noticed something was missing. And that thing happened to be a massive, red, fire breathing lizard that was sleeping next to him the night before. _He must have gone hunting or something. Well, no need to intrude any further, I'd better get going._ He put on the gourd, the Ebony Blade, and put the scroll in his pocket. Making sure he wasn't forgetting anything, he began walking to the exit of the den. Before he could get there though, he heard a crash, followed by a certain red dragon walking into the den.

" **Hey kid, I went hunting and found us some breakfast. You can eat with me if you want.** "

"Thank you for your generosity ." Natsu replied with a bow.

The dragon merely chuckled at this. It was not everyday you found a five year old who had the maturity of something ten times his age. The dragon went to where they had slept, before spitting out another fireball to cook the meat he had caught. They both just watched the fire in silence, until the dragon decided to break it.

" **Hey kid.** "

"Yeah?"

" **Would you be interested in learning magic?** "

Natsu thought hard about that. _Do I need to learn magic? I mean my jutsu are basically the same thing.. But learning some new techniques wouldn't hurt. And I don't have anything else to do so I guess I could try.._ "I guess I would. I don't suppose you have any books or anything about it though."

Natsu gained a curious expression as the dragon started laughing at his comment. " **No, I don't"** Natsu grimaced. " **That's why I'll be teaching you myself."** The dragon replied smugly. Natsu was shocked. He looked up at the dragon with wide eyes. "You know magic? But I would assume since you're.. y'know, a DRAGON, you wouldn't need it." The dragon chuckled at this and replied. " **You're right, I don't know magic, but all dragons can teach something called Dragon Slayer Magic."**

Natsu sweat dropped at this. "... Why the hell would you teach people something that is used to kill your own people..."

" **Well, it's not only meant to kill dragons, it's just that it's the only magic capable of harming dragons, so people started calling it Dragon Slayer Magic."**

"Well, what does the magic do? It must be incredibly powerful to be able to defeat something as strong as a dragon." Natsu asked with a curious expression.

" **It allows the user to transform their body with features of their dragon element, to use offensively and defensively. On top of this, the dragon slayer is immune to their own element, and can consume their element to replenish strength."**

Natsu's eyes almost bulged out of his head, and his jaw hit the floor. "W-what?! That's insanely powerful!

The dragon smirked. " **Well, It wouldn't be able to hurt dragons if it wasn't.** " Natsu gained a thoughtful expression for a minute, before looking back up. "Very well, I accept your offer. By the way, my name is Natsu." The dragon looked down with a grin. " **Then let's get started!** " And with that the dragon started walking towards the cave exit. Natsu just smiled and followed. He chuckled a bit. _What have I gotten myself into..._ Then he heard his name being called.

" **Natsu.. Natsu.. NATSU!"**

"Sorry, I was thinking, what is it?"

" **Call me Igneel.** "


	3. CH-3: Magic!

**I tried to make it longer this time, but tell me if it feels like I stuffed too much information into one chapter. Thanks :D**

Natsu followed Igneel outside the den and into the morning sun. After spending quite a while in the musty cavern, the breeze felt amazing against his face. Natsu looked up at the bright sun, and couldn't help but feel a little saddened by how much it reminded him of his old life back in Suna. _Oh well, I can't let that hold me down. I wonder how this "Fire Dragon Slayer" magic compares to Fire Release jutsu? It's a shame I don't know any fire jutsu, maybe it would've made this easier for me... Then again, I AM working with a completely different energy source I assume, because Igneel didn't seem to have any idea what chakra is._ Natsu looked up, only to realize that he was lagging far behind Igneel. Shaking his head to clear himself of his daydreams, he caught back up, and decided to pester Igneel with questions.

"Hey Igneel."

" **Yeah?** " Igneel replied while continuing to walk forwards.

"What do mages use as an energy source?" Natsu asked.

" **Mages harness the power of something called eternano. Eternano is in the air all around us, however mages cannot generate it by themselves. Each mage has something called a magic container inside of them, which is used to store eternano, to be used in magic. If a mage's magic container completely empties, they will be unable to use magic. However the magic container will eventually fill back up from the eternano in the air.** " Igneel explained.

"Wow!" Natsu exclaimed. "So you're saying that even if I use all my magic power, I won't die, I'll just get tired, and not be able to use magic for a while?" He asked.

" **Yes, essentially that is what I'm saying. As you can probably already tell, this is already one major advantage eternano has over chakra. However, I'd say that chakra most likely has more power behind it than eternano.** " Igneel replied.

"Why is that, Igneel?" Natsu asked with a curious expression.

" **Well,** " Igneel replied. " **Eternano is purely spiritual energy, which is the reason that having none in your magic container will not result in physical harm to your body. However, when you were explaining chakra to me, you said that losing all the chakra in your body would result in death. I assume this is because chakra is most likely a combination of spiritual and physical energies, so when you lose all your chakra, it causes physical harm to your body.**

Natsu marveled at the dragon's logical explanation. Never in a million years did he expect a dragon, something that is known for annihilating entire countries, to be able to explain something that most people had trouble understanding, even though they specifically had it explained to him by someone who _actually_ knew what they were talking about. _He managed to put that together all by himself. I didn't even tell him about what chakra was comprised of! Dragons are truly amazing... I'd go as far as to say tha-_

" **Natsu** "

Natsu snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. "Yeah?" Natsu replied.

" **We're here.** " Igneel said as he sat down.

Natsu had a look around. They were in a massive clearing with the trees directly around the clearing completely burned. Since the clearing was a near perfect circle, coupled with the burned trees, Natsu assumed that Igneel had cleared this out himself. In the clearing, there were several large boulders, but apart from those, the entire thing appeared to be completely flattened.

"Sweet! now where do I start?" Natsu exclaimed happily. Igneel smirked and looked at him.

" **Before we even start, you're going to need some physical training.** "Natsu became comically depressed, and sighed, before looking at him.

"Why? I thought we were going to be training magic! not taijutsu..."

" **What the hell is taijutsu?** " Igneel replied, completely perplexed by the word.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to explain this. Well, for people in my world, there are several different fighting styles we practice. For example, ninjutsu would probably be the closest thing to what you call magic here. Genjutsu would most likely be called illusion, and taijutsu is what we call hand to hand combat." Natsu explained.

" **Huh, sounds like you dumb humans just over complicate things to be honest.** " Igneel replied with a shrug. Natsu completely face faulted at this. _And here I was thinking dragons were super wise, intelligent beings..._ " **Natsu?** " Igneel looked down at him. Natsu sprang back up and replied as if nothing happened. "Anyways, why do we need to be doing physical training?"

" **It's for the type of magic you will be learning. It requires immense physical speed and strength to be used effectively.** " Igneel replied. "But why would it need strength and speed? I thought we were going to be learning stuff like breathing fire..." Natsu asked. " **Actually, we won't be learning that for quite a while. However, some of the most basic spells are almost as powerful. These are the ones that require physical attributes. For example, the first spell you will learn is called "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist". This spell will ignite your hand with fire, and will make your strikes do massive damage, as well as burn the target.** "

Natsu was completely shocked by this. _This is considered a basic spell? That sounds almost identical to Kakashi's "One Thousand Birds" technique, except with fire instead of lightning. Assuming it's just as powerful, I'd love to see what the advanced techniques are capable of... Then again, the way Igneel describes it, it sounds more like Tsunade's strength punches, focusing more on brute force, rather than precise damage._

"Alright, so then what should I do for my physical training?" Natsu asked. Igneel smirked at him and replied.

" **First, we will be training your speed. Before we came here, I burned out another clearing identical to this one about ten kilometers north. Every day, before we start training, you will run there and back. This is the endurance part of your speed. Understand?** "Natsu nodded his head firmly. " **Good. The speed part, will be slightly more difficult.** " Natsu gulped. " **To train your speed, you will be racing against one of my fire breath attacks. Each time you manage to beat the fire, I will increase the speed. On top of this, you will be wearing ankle weights, which will increase in weight every time you get used to it.** " Natsu grimaced, but still nodded affirmatively.

Igneel grinned. " **Good, then let's get started! I'll explain the strength part once you've got the speed down.** " Igneel began walking away, before stopping and turning around again." **Oh, I forgot to mention, we will also need to get your reflexes up to par. Can't have you running around at hyper speed, only to crash into trees every ten seconds.** " Natsu chuckled a bit, but agreed.

TWO GRUELING WEEKS LATER

Natsu had improved greatly in the past two weeks. Although about two days in, he realized that he would be wearing his gourd constantly, as well as his sword. So he started wearing them while training. His ankle weights now each weighed around 40 pounds, which when combined, was about the same as him. Also, he could now keep up with Igneel's 60% speed fireball, which was still very fast, mind you. They had also noticed something while training Natsu's reflexes. Every time Natsu's reflexes grew faster, his sand's reaction time grew with it. This fact proved to be very useful to Natsu, as he wanted to honor his father's memory as much as he could. To do this he trained his reflexes as much as he possibly could, getting to the point where his sand was even faster than Gaara's was. However, even with all he had achieved up to this point, Igneel still deemed him too slow to begin training, so he continued to train.

ANOTHER BRUTAL TWO WEEKS LATER

At this point, it was safe to say that Natsu was a speed demon. His weights combined were now 150% of his own weight, and his sand was now at least twice as fast as Gaara's. Igneel looked down at Natsu approvingly, and at the same time, Natsu looked up, beaming with pride. Igneel knew that Natsu was more than fast enough to learn the move before his speed training _even began_. But he wanted Natsu to be the strongest fire dragon slayer the world had ever seen.

" **You're pretty fast now kid. I think it's time to start your strength training.** " Igneel said with a smirk.

Natsu sighed. "Well, let's get this over with..." He knew Igneel was about to put him through hell, just to get as strong as he thought acceptable.

THREE HORRIBLE WEEKS LATER

Natsu had increased his physical strength to an amazing extent over the past three weeks. He could put cracks in boulders, and could uproot smaller trees by just pushing them over. Igneel decided it was finally time to tell Natsu about his genius plan. He grinned and walked over to Natsu, who was lying on the ground panting in exhaustion.

" **Hey Natsu.** "

Annoyed, Natsu looked up at Igneel. "What?"

" **Your done with your strength training, but guess what?** "

Natsu sighed. "What now, Igneel?"

" **You were already strong and fast enough before the training even started!** " Igneel said as he looked at Natsu with a happy-like grin on his face.

Natsu just sort of broke down in shock. _Are. You. Fucking. Serious?_ "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME IGNEEL!" Natsu yelled as he started crying waterfalls of anime tears.

" **Nope.** " Igneel replied, completely straight faced.

"Then why the hell did I have to do it?" Natsu asked, still a bit peeved that he spent two months waiting to learn something that he could've learned right away.

Igneel sighed. " **Here, let me explain it this way.** " Igneel said as he drew two vertical bars in the ground, as well as a 'x4' beside the bars. " **Let's assume that these two bars were your strength and speed before the training. The 'x4' beside the bars represents how much your capabilities would be increased when using the Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. Follow me so far?** " Natsu nodded. " **Good. Let's pretend that the bars that represent your speed and strength two months ago are level three.** "Natsu nodded again, beginning to understand what the dragon was getting at. " **So if you were at level three, when you used the Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, your strength and speed would go up to level twelve.** "Natsu had a look of realization on his face. Igneel drew the same diagram beside the original, except the bars were much taller. " _ **These**_ **bars represent your current level of strength and speed, level seven. So when you use Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, your strength and speed would increase to level twenty eight.** "Natsu was shocked at how well Igneel was explaining this. He also could now see how much the training had helped him. _Damn, dragon's are super smar-_ " **By the way, all that stuff about levels is bullshit. I just made that up on the spot to make it sound as complicated as your world. But the concept is still the same.** " Igneel said as he shrugged. _-nevermind._ Natsu thought as he sweat dropped.

" **Well, time to get started on actual spells!** " Igneel exclaimed happily.

FOUR MONTHS OF ACTUAL LEARNING LATER

Natsu had now mastered five of the basic fire dragon slayer spells. Them being: Fire Dragon's Roar, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, Fire Dragon's Claw, Fire Dragon's Wing Attack, and Fire Dragon's Grip Strike. He had also gotten his resistance to the point where fire attacks were completely ineffective against him, however he had yet to learn how to consume fire. Right now, however, Natsu is training on his own. Igneel had to go hunt for their food. Winter was approaching, so they needed to store excess amounts just to be safe.

Natsu was buzzing with excitement. The previous night, Natsu had come upon a seemingly ingenious idea. He was having a dream about a battle that his father had told him about. One during the chuunin exams, where he had fought Sasuke Uchiha. _I was completely surrounded by my sand, I had used my opening of the third eye technique, when suddenly I heard the sound of chirping birds. I looked up at the wall, and saw my opponent running down the wall at breakneck speeds. His arm looked like it was coated in lightning. Coated in lightning..._ Natsu suddenly woke up with wide eyes and yelled. "THAT'S IT!"

This brings us to where Natsu is now. His eyes closed in concentration, with a bead of sweat running down his forehead. His arm was extended out on front of him, and he was in a low stance with his legs shoulder width apart. _The chidori was able to cut through dad's sand, which means it must have had incredible piercing power. Sasuke must have focused all his lightning chakra to one point in his hand._ Natsu's eyes were still closed, but he started focusing even harder. _One point. All my power, to one point... Wait, what's that noise? It sounds like Igneel's roar, but that can't be him, he isn't going to be back for a few days..._ Natsu opened his eyes and gasped. There, where his hand used to be, were flames so bright that his entire hand and some of his wrist were completely invisible. And with the flames was the sound of one thousand dragons roaring as proudly as Igneel himself. Natsu grinned proudly. He had finally done it, recreated one of the most powerful techniques of his world, all by himself.

He quickly extinguished the flames, before taking his gourd out of the seal on his back. He let the sand flow out, and summoned the most dense walls of sand he had ever created. Backing away from the sand wall, he started focusing fire into his hand once more. After a few seconds, he heard the distinct sound of roaring dragons and intense light that could only come from his technique. He took off at his fastest possible speed, running straight at the sand he had constructed only a moment ago. As soon as he reached the wall, he thrust his fire encased arm straight at it. Time seemed to slow down as his hand gradually inched closer and closer to the sand. When he finally hit the sand, his hand felt like it was gliding through water. He looked down at the impact point in the wall and grinned. His hand had completely impaled the sand wall like it was nothing. _I wonder what else this puppy can do..._ Natsu thought as he grinned. Natsu eyes suddenly snapped wide open as he realized something. _I just created an original technique... THAT MEANS I GET TO NAME IT!_ Natsu grinned like a complete idiot. He sat down cross legged and thought hard for about 10 minutes trying to think of a good name. All of a sudden he opened his eyes and smiled sadly. _In honor of Kakashi..._ He thought. _Sen Ryu! One Thousand Dragons!_ Natsu abruptly stood up, and started to walk back to the den, exhausted after using all that magic power to learn the jutsu. _Wait, wouldn't it be a spell? After all, it DOES use magic power instead of chakra..._ Natsu thought as he walked. _I wonder if Kakashi would like it..._

When Natsu finally reached the den it was already night. He took off his gourd, shirt, and sword and sealed them, before settling down to eat some berries he had picked on his way back. He sat at the back of the cavern where he usually slept alongside Igneel. He took the berries out of the seal on his arm and placed them on the floor.

FIVE MINUTES OF BORING EATING LATER

After finishing his meal, he grabbed his father's old coat and set it on the floor. He took out a brush and some ink, and put them next to the coat. He began putting the coat and various colours of ink next to each other. Trying to determine which colour would look best on it. _Hmm... I think black would looked best on it. Plus then it would have the colour of dad AND mom's hair on it._ Natsu thought, nodding affirmatively. He set the other colours aside, put the brush in the ink, and started to draw.

 **(A/N: If you don't know what Gaara's coat looks like, go to the wiki page for Gaara and check what he looks like during Part II)**

ONE CREATIVE HOUR LATER

Natsu grinned proudly as he finished drawing. He lit a small fire on the ground in front of him, and held the coat up to the light. On the coat, was a beautiful, intricate drawing of a dragon. It's tail started from the left hip area, going straight up, and ending in it's head breathing fire just above his heart. He had decided to leave the waist-to-knee part blank. He thought it would look better that way. He put the coat back into the seal on his right shoulder, then put away his drawing materials. He leaned back against the wall and yawned. Drawing for an hour straight had really taken it out of the young boy. Not five minutes had passed before Natsu fell asleep.

THE NEXT MORNING

Natsu groggily opened his eyes, and got up. The warm sunlight was streaming through the cave's entrance, and the autumn air made the cave very cold. He yawned drowsily, and walked to the cave's entrance. He decided that today he was going to try and master the technique he had created; Sen Ryu. He unsealed the gourd from his left shoulder, and the Ebony Blade from the small of his back. He didn't need to put the gourd on, as he could un-seal it and re-seal it while wearing it. He was about to put the Ebony Blade in it's sheath when he began to get an idea. _Couldn't I just use my chakra to stick the Ebony Blade to my back? This way, I don't have to carry a sheath around with me. My chakra reserves high enough that it wouldn't affect me at all either._ With that idea in mind, he grinned, and stuck the sword to the ride side of his back, so that it wouldn't interfere with his gourd. With all things ready to go, he set off to his normal training spot.

TWO DAYS LATER

Natsu was currently walking back from his training. He had completely mastered his new jutsu, now being able to activate it almost instantly, and at a way lower magic cost. He had also decided to add something to it's name. Y'know, just to give it that extra flair. He now called it 'Ryupou: Sen Ryu' (Dragon Art: One Thousand Dragons). He had completely spaced out when he heard a loud roar, snapping him back to reality. He knew who it was before he even turned around. But he still turned around anyways. He saw Igneel riding towards the den, with loads of meat clutched in his claws. The strange thing though, is that there appeared to be 3 people sitting on his back. _That's weird. I wonder if Igneel decided to train some other people too? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! I would finally have people to play with!_ He started sprinting home, hoping to show Igneel his new technique, as well as meet the new people Igneel had brought back.

AT THE DEN

Natsu ran into the cave as soon as he got there, not even bothering to re-seal the Ebony Blade or his gourd. He ran straight up to Igneel and started talking so fast his mouth was a blur.

"IGNEEL! Guess what I did while you were gone?"

Igneel looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. " **What?** " he replied.

Natsu smirked at him. "I invented a new technique!"

Igneel was completely flabbergasted. _I only taught him four moves... I leave him alone for three fucking days, and he makes a new technique? This kid is a genius!_ " **Well, I would love for you to show me that move, but for now you have some people to talk to.** "

Natsu face palmed. Of course! How could he have forgotten the only other humans he had seen for almost six months. He walked straight up to Igneel and looked at him in the eyes.

"Well, where are they then?" Natsu asked.

Igneel stepped to the side to reveal three figures. The first one was wearing a long, high collared white robe, and had spiky, shoulder length pale red hair. There were six black magatama marking around the collar of his robe, and on his face there were... horns? Natsu was extremely weirded out by this guy.

The second one was wearing a black shirt, and pants that went just above his ankles. He had bandages covering his ankles and everything below that, except his shinobi sandles. He wore red plate armour, and had waist length, spiky black hair. This one seemed a little more normal than the first guy.

The last guy was the weirdest in Natsu's opinion. His body was almost completely covered in bandages. The only thing that wasn't covered were his eyes and nose, and his military green sweatpants that went just past his knees.

The three of them stepped forward and spoke one at a time.

"Greetings," the first one said. "My name is Hagoromo Otsutsuki."

"Hello there, Natsu. My name is Madara Uchiha." the second one explained.

"Hi, I am Mu" the third one said abruptly.

Natsu let that sink in for a second before he remembered a story his dad had once told him. Natsu looked at Hagoromo. _Natsu, I am going to tell you a story about the most powerful being on this planet, the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki._ Natsu's jaw hit the floor and his eyes widened to dinner plates.

"YOU'RE THE SAGE OF THE SIX PATHS!" Natsu exclaimed.

Hagoromo smiled at him. "Indeed I am."

Natsu looked at Madara. _Remember Naruto, Natsu? Well, he and I once fought a great war against a man named Madara Uchiha._ Natsu looked accusingly at Madara. To which Madara raised an eyebrow.

"You're that evil guy dad had to fight against..." Natsu said.

Madara face palmed and sighed. "Yes, that is correct I suppose."

Natsu looked at Mu. _...?_

"You're a mummy." Natsu said, completely straight faced.

Every person in the room, save Natsu, sweat dropped.


	4. CH-4: Sensei of the Six Paths

**This, along with the next two chapters are going to be shorter than normal, and are just going to briefly go through Natsu's training with each person.**

Hagoromo was the first one to actually talk to Natsu individually. He told Natsu to follow him, then walked to the back of the cave, leaving Madara and Mu to talk to Igneel. When they finally reached the end of the den, Hagoromo turned to Natsu.

"Natsu, are you aware of a dragon known as Acnologia?" Hagoromo asked.

Natsu assumed a thinking pose for a few seconds before answering. "Yeah I think so, Igneel mentioned him a few times. Big, black, spooky dragon of destruction, right?"

Hagoromo sighed and nodded. "Yes, that one."

"So what about him?"

"He's planning to destroy the world." Hagoromo stated simply.

"..." Natsu was completely speechless. He just stood there with his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something, but no words were coming out.

Hagoromo looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds before continuing. "Anyways, you are the only person in this world with chakra, therefor are the only person that we can teach. Simply put, these mages are too weak to deal with Acnologia, so it's on you."

Natsu's brain was overloading at this point. _I have to stop Acnologia? Are you kidding me? Why can't these dumb mages do it... I mean, they have cool spells and stuff. And I'm sure there are other dragon slayers out there, right?_

"Well, I can't be known as a dragon slayer for nothing right? Hehe.." Natsu chuckled nervously.

Hagoromo sweat dropped. "I suppose so..."

"So what am I going to be learning from you six paths sensei?" Natsu asked.

Hagoromo chuckled a bit at Natsu's nickname for him. "Well, I can't teach you shinobi stuff, since I'm not a shinobi... So we're going to be learning six paths stuff!" Hagoromo said with pride.

Natsu deadpanned. "Well that's great and all, but what is 'six paths stuff'?" Natsu asked.

"Well," Hagoromo responded. "I was going to offer you the choice between Indra's power or Asura's power, but since they both wouldn't stop arguing about which you would pick, I decided to give you half of each. Pretty genius, eh?"

Natsu sweat dropped. "Yeah... genius... Anyway, what does 'half' the power of each person do?"

Hagoromo stroked his beard. "Hmm... I have no idea to be honest..."

Natsu face faulted.

"But if I had to guess, I would say that from Indra, you would get the rinnegan in one eye. From Asura, you would gain the six paths sage mode, with only 4 truth seeker orbs, as well as his sage art wood style."

Natsu gave an appreciative whistle. "Well, damn. That's one hell of a power boost."

Hagoromo gave a hearty laugh. "Indeed it is. Anyways, shall we begin?"

Natsu grinned at him. "Hell yeah!"

ONE MONTH LATER

Natsu had finished training Asura's power. He can now use his six paths sage mode perfectly, and manipulate his truth seeking orbs into whatever shape he wants, including the Six Paths Staff, and the Sword of Nunoboko. His sage art wood style is also nearly mastered. He is able to use all wood style jutsu, including the Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands technique.

Right now we find Natsu and Hagoromo sitting beside each other in the forest, just talking. Natsu had just finished training his Asura power, and was asking about Indra's power, the rinnegan.

"Natsu, I just noticed another side effect of only having half of Indra's power." Hagoromo said.

Natsu frowned. "Well, what is it?"

"You are only able to use three out of seven paths of the rinnegan." Hagoromo stated, straight faced.

Natsu seemed unfazed. "Well that doesn't sound so bad, which ones can I use?" Natsu asked.

Hagoromo inspected him closely. "Hmm... from what I can tell, you can use the Deva path, the Animal Path, and the Outer path. I could be wrong though."

Natsu looked confused. "I know what the rinnegan can do from what dad told me, but what does each path do?"

Hagoromo sighed, and explained. "Well, each power of the rinnegan is separated into one of seven paths. For example, the Deva path controls the power of attractive and repulsive forces, while the Animal path controls the rinnegan summonings."

Natsu began to nod. "So then I can use the attractive and repulsive forces, and the rinnegan summoning?" Natsu asked.

Hagoromo nodded. "Those are the abilities of the first two paths. However, the last path you control is called the Outer path."

"What does this one do?" Natsu asked.

"In essence, it rules over life and death. You are able to manifest unbreakable chains that suppress chakra, control up to six separate bodies at once, and even restore life to someone, albeit usually at the cost of your own life.

"Usually?" Natsu inquired. After hearing all these insane abilities, he was unfazed by things such as this.

"I say that because the amount of chakra it requires is the reason nobody has ever survived using the technique. However, since you also have Asura's chakra, you can use it to fuel the technique. Be wary, however, Should you use Asura's chakra to fuel the technique, it will take two to three years for it to charge up again. During that time, you will be unable to access your six paths sage mode, or truth seeking orbs." Hagoromo explained.

Natsu looked at Hagoromo seriously. "Seems like a small price to pay if you could bring back a loved one." Natsu said.

Hagoromo smiled at Natsu. "Indeed" Hagoromo responded. _He seems like a mix between Asura, Hashirama, and Naruto... Couldn't be better._

"Well, we'd better get started on training your rinnegan, Natsu. Madara and Mu also want to train you. Wouldn't want to keep them waiting, would you?"

Natsu looked horrified. "No, Six Paths Sensei!"

Hagoromo turned away from him and lazily motioned for Natsu to follow. "Yeah, yeah, now hurry up!"

ONE MONTH LATER

Natsu mastered the rinnegan. He could perform the techniques of all three of his paths perfectly, and even found a way to lower the cooldown on his Deva path. He had to use a cloth to cover the eye, however, as it had such a powerful presence that even some (although weaker) S-Class mages would pass out. It was finally time for Natsu to train with Madara. Before he left, however, Hagoromo had one more thing to say.

"Natsu, you've trained harder than I've ever seen someone train before in these past two months, so I've decided to give you another little gift."

Natsu looked at the sage with wide eyes. "Really?! What is it?! What is it?!" Natsu kept pestering Hagoromo.

Hagoromo got a tick mark on his head and yelled. "SHUT UP AND I'LL TELL YOU!" Natsu instantly shut up.

Hagoromo clasped both his hands together in a prayer position and called out.

 **Creation of All Things!**

Natsu blinked. All of a sudden, 6 bodies appeared out of a poof of smoke. Natsu eyes widened as he recognized them from some of Suna's old bingo books.

Deidara, the demolitions expert.  
Kakuzu, the immortal.  
Kisame, the Tailed Beast without a tail.  
Sasori, of the red sand.  
Juzo, wielder of the executioner's blade.  
Nagato, the child of prophecy.

Natsu was shocked, what kind of present is the six dead bodies of international terrorists? _What the hell is going on in senseis head right now?_

Hagoromo raised an eyebrow at Natsu's reaction. "You may be wondering why I created the bodies of these people." Natsu nodded his head dumbly.

"I did it so that you can have six bodies for your outer path." Hagoromo explained.

Natsu's eyes widened as he realized. "Thank you, Six Paths Sensei. But if I may ask, why these six? I am under the assumption that the bodies will only have their respective paths as abilities anyways, so why not six no-name shinobi?" Natsu asked.

"Well as an added benefit, I've decided to keep their abilities the same as before they died." Hagoromo explained.

But Natsu had more questions loaded up. "But if I use the Outer path on them, won't I have chakra receivers stuck into me like Nagato did? And I thought each body only gets one of the six paths, but I only have three!"

"You see, the reason why I created Nagato as one of the six, is so you can split _his_ paths among them. In regards to chakra receivers, Nagato only had to do that because his rinnegan was somewhat fake, as it was artificially created by Madara. Hagoromo explained. "If that is all, I will be going now."

Natsu seemed content at this response. "Thank you for everything, Six Paths Sensei." Natsu said. Then he seemed to realize something. "Wait, where are you going? Why don't you stay here with Igneel and I?"

Hagaromo laughed. "Natsu... Madara, Mu, and I are already dead. We are merely spirits that I used my power to bring here. So when our purpose here is fulfilled, we will go back." Hagoromo explained. "Oh, and one more thing."

Natsu looked at him with a questioning expression. "What?"

"Have Fun."


	5. CH-5: Madara-teme

**I've decided to start underlining jutsu's and magics, to make them more distinct, like this:**

 **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**

 **Also, in regards to how jutsu's will be named, I'm going to mostly use their english names, unless it's something everyone knows. For Example:**

 **Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!  
Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!**

 **Ryupou: Sen Ryu!  
Shinra Tensei!**

 **Thanks for the support, and enjoy the next chapter!**

After Hagoromo left, we now find Natsu slowly walking back to the cave. He was considering just floating there in six paths sage mode, but he decided that Asura's chakra shouldn't just be wasted like that. He started to wonder about Madara. _I wonder what I will learn from Madara? What was he even good at? Fire Release? All dad told me about him during the war was him using his sharingan and rinnegan techniques, as well as a few bloodline jutsu's that I can't use, or already know._

Natsu finally reached the cave, he found Igneel, Madara, and Mu eating dinner around a fire. He walked up to the campfire and sat down beside Igneel in his normal spot. Madara looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I suppose your training with Hagoromo went well?" He asked.

Natsu leaned back against Igneel with his hands behind his head. "Yeah, it was fine. I even got this cool eye called the rinnegan. Pretty sweet, huh?" Natsu said with a grin.

Madara looked shocked. "Hagoromo gave you the rinnegan?!" He exclaimed.

Natsu looked confused. "Well, yeah. It's only have of Indra's power though, so I'm only able to use three paths. But I also got half of Asura's power! So I can do cool stuff like sage art wood release, and six paths sage mode!" Natsu yelled.

Madara smirked and shook his head. "Lucky brat. So which paths can you use then?" He asked.

"I can use the Deva path, the Animal path, and the Outer path." Natsu responded.

Madara looked impressed. "Not bad kid, but you're training with me starts tomorrow, so you'd better be ready."

"Alright, what time should I be up at?" Natsu asked.

"Ohh, about seven sounds good." Madara responded.

Natsu sighed. "God damnit."

THE NEXT MORNING

Natsu woke up fifteen minutes early to get ready. He put on his clothes, unsealed his gourd, and walked to the front entrance to wait. About ten minutes later, Madara suddenly appeared beside him out of thin air.

"So, ready to start, brat?" Madara asked with a smirk.

Natsu sighed, and then smirked. "Yeah sure, Madara-teme."

Madara ga a massive tick mark on his forehead. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU BRAT?!" Madara yelled.

Natsu smirked as he walked away towards the forest. "Nothing, sensei."

Madara caught up to him. "Good. Now, while we're walking, let's talk about your training. I'm guessing the old man didn't teach you any shinobi skills, correct?" Madara asked.

Natsu nodded his head and kept silent.

"Well then, for the first month we'll work on your basics. You already know things such as tree climbing and kunai throwing, right?"

Natsu nodded yet again.

"Thank god, that stuff is soooo boring. Moving on, I'll be teaching you taijutsu, as well as some of the basic ninjutsu that everyone your age should know. I also know a really great way for someone with huge chakra pools like you to learn fast, but I'll talk about that when we get there."

Natsu nodded for the third time.

AT WHATEVER PLACE MADARA THOUGH WOULD BE GOOD FOR TRAINING

"The first thing we're going to work on is four basic jutsu that every shinobi should know, no matter what. Madara explained.

"Alright, what are they? Natsu asked.

"They are known as the **Body Replacement** , **Clone** , **Transformation** , and **Body Flicker**." Madara explained.

"Alright, cool. So what do they do?" Natsu asked.

 **(Don't really feel like explaining this. Feels like a waste of reading time. If you don't know what they do, look em up.)**

"Ok," Natsu said. "They sound pretty useful. So what's this 'great' way of learning super fast?"

Madara smirked. "Simple. Remember how clones are just illusions?"

Natsu nodded.

"Well, there is another clone jutsu that can make physical clones, capable of fighting, and doing menial tasks and chores. However they can be knocked out with a single blow."

"Cool, but I still don't see how this helps me learn faster."

 **(INSERT MADARA EXPLAINING THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF SHADOW CLONES)**

"So you're saying that since I have massive chakra pools thanks to Asura, I can just make thousands of shadow clones, and therefor learn a thousand times faster? Natsu asked.

"Yes. That is exactly what I am saying." Madara replied, completely straight faced.

"SWEET! LET'S GET STARTED!" Natsu exclaimed.

 **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**

Madara sighed. _A thousand and one Natsus... What have I gotten myself into..._

ONE MONTH LATER

Natsu learned shinobi skills incredibly fast through the usage of shadow clones. He mastered all the basic jutsu, except the **Clone** , since he could already use **Shadow Clones**. Even Madara was proud of how fast he progressed, going as far as to say that he was as good as Sasuke with and without a sword when they fought during the Fourth Great Shinobi War. The taijutsu style Madara decided to teach Natsu was the Gentle Fist. Normally, this requires a byakugan to use effectively, but since Natsu has a rinnegan, he memorized all the human chakra and pressure points. While he was training his Gentle Fist, Natsu realized that hitting chakra points would be completely useless in this world, as he was the only being with chakra. To make up for this, Madara had Natsu go to a nearby city to inspect the mages living there. When Natsu looked at them using the rinnegan, he could vaguely see that there were fourty four essential points in a magic container. He assumed that if he hit them all while pushing magic into his hands, he could effectively shut down someone's magic container. Natsu returned to his training, and decided to recreate one of the Hyuuga's original Gentle Fist techniques, the **Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms**. However, since he only needed fourty four hits to shut down someone's magic container, he decided to call his technique **Eleven Trigrams: Fourty Four Palms**.

With his taijutsu and basic training done, Madara decided to tell him what they would be training next. Natsu was currently napping under a tree, after a hard day of training. Well, he _was_ napping, but Madara was kind enough to 'wake' him up by cutting down the tree he was resting on.

Natsu shot up, looking annoyed. "Oi! What the hell was that for Madara-teme?!"

Madara sighed. "You want to know what we're training in next, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Well, first take this." Madara said as he handed Natsu a piece of paper.

Natsu sweat dropped. "... Why do I need paper?"

Madara smirked. "It's called chakra paper, kid. Push some chakra into it."

Natsu held his small piece of chakra paper, and pushed his chakra into it. About two seconds later, the paper suddenly cut into two seperate pieces, one of them turning to ash, and the other crumbling. Natsu gasped, surprised for a second before resuming his deadpan expression.

"Cool, The paper got wrecked. How does this help train me?"

Madara smirked yet again. "Those are your chakra affinities, fire, earth, and wind. It's incredibly rare to have that many actually." Madara assumed a thinking position for a second, before speaking again. "Hmm... your rinnegan should of given you all five natures automatically. I assume it didn't because you only received half the power of Indra." _I also assumed that's the reason why Hagoromo had Mu come with us..._ Madara thought.

"So we're going to be learning elemental jutsu I presume? Probably fire, since that's what your specialty is." Natsu said.

"Yes, you are correct." Madara said. A few seconds later, Madara face palmed and sighed. "It still baffles me how you can go from idiot to genius in the span of two seconds."

Natsu grinned. "Guess that's my special ability!"

TWO WEEKS LATER

Natsu can now use all fire release techniques that Madara knows. His favourites were **Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation** , and **Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet**. He had also noticed a few differences between his **Fire Dragon's Roar** and his fire release jutsu. For one, his **Fire Dragon's Roar** was exponentially hotter than his fire release, more than double the temperature in fact. On top of that, he could chose who would be affected by his **Fire Dragon's Roar** , as well as control the temperature. However his fire release jutsu were far more versatile, doing things such as lighting a match, to wide-scale destruction. Another difference, was that his fire jutsu packed way more of a physical force than his **Fire Dragon's Roar** , due to the fact that it was created by chakra instead of eternano.

Madara had also decided to teach Natsu a few of the wind and earth jutsu that he knew, such as **Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets** , and **Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall**. But Natsu still preferred to use fire release. Right now, Natsu and Madara were walking back to the cave, after nearly creating a forest fire with his fire jutsu. It wasn't until they finally reached the den, that Madara talked to Natsu.

"Hey Natsu, have you heard of two people known as Obito Uchiha, and Itachi Uchiha?" Madara asked.

Natsu pondered this for a second before answering. "Yeah, dad told me Itachi was an undercover agent, and Obito was the guy you manipulated to help you during the war."

"Yeah, that's right. Well anyways, Obito felt really bad about, y'know, almost destroying the entire world, so he decided to let you have his sharingan, to help you save _this_ world." Madara said.

Natsu was currently in genius mode, so he didn't react. "Hmm... that'll be useful. But where does Itachi fit in to this?" Natsu asked.

Madara sighed. "It's kind of dumb, really. Itachi felt that he couldn't be outdone by 'that idiot' and also decided to give you his eyes."

Natsu sweat dropped. "Wait, how am I going to get two pairs of eyes in my head at the same time?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Well... um.. you see, Hagoromo sort of combined them both into one pair..." Madara explained.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Well, I certainly didn't know that was possible. I assume my eyes will just morph into the sharingan, but what will happen to the rinnegan?" Natsu asked.

"You assume correct. As for your rinnegan, it will morph into the rinnesharingan." Madara said.

"Based on this new information, I also assume that these next two weeks will be used to train my sharingan?" Natsu asked.

"Yes. Now, close your eyes, and channel chakra into them." Madara told him.

Natsu did as Madara asked, and closed his eyes. When he channeled his chakra to them, he felt a slight tingling feeling, followed by a brief sting. Finally, he opened his eyes. and pulled out a kunai to use as a mirror. He gasped at what he saw. His right eye now had pure black sclera, with absolutely no white showing. In the middle, was what looked like a six pointed, red shuriken. Three of the shuriken's blades were on a curve, and looked like waves. They were seperated by the three other blades, which pointed straight out, before turning at a fourty five degree angle, and curving back towards the center. **(A/N: Imagine Obito's eye and Itachi's eye stacked on top of each other.)**

Madara raised an eyebrow when he looked. "Hmm... To my knowledge, you're the only person other than Sasuke to have your sharingan colours reversed." Madara said.

Natsu looked worried. "Will that affect them in any way?" Natsu asked.

Madara shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of."

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief, before looking worried again. "Wait, won't I eventually go blind with these eyes?" Natsu asked.

Madara shook his head again. "No, Itachi's eyes were already at the stage of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, so you'll be fine."

TWO WEEKS LATER

Natsu mastered his sharingan with the help of Madara. Through his sharingan, Natsu is able to use Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Kamui, and Susano'o. He also learned sharingan genjutsu, and decided to use crows as the base of his illusions, in honour of Itachi.

But now the time for Madara to leave has come, and here we find them exchanging final goodbyes.

"Well kid, I gotta go back now. It's been fun teachin ya." Madara said.

Natsu chuckles. "It's been fun learning. Before you go though, I want you to tell Kakashi something when you eventually meet him." Natsu said.

Madara raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is it that you want me to tell him?" Madara asked.

"Tell him that I remade his original technique, but with magic." Natsu said with a thousand watt smile.

Madara smirked. "I'll be sure to do that."

Natsu suddenly looked at the floor, depressed. "I'm gonna miss you Madara."

Madara laughed. "You've been talking to a spirit this entire time, there's nothing to miss to be honest." Madara said.

Madara continued. "I got one thing to say to you before I go."

Natsu looked at him questioningly. "And what's that?"

"Try to make friends, don't walk alone as I did." Madara said, as he slowly disappeared.

Natsu tried not to cry, but ultimately failed. "I'll try... Madara-teme..."


	6. CH-6: Mū-mmy

Natsu walked back to the den alone for the second time now. When he arrived, he just walked over and sat down beside Igneel and Mu silently. Five minutes passed before anyone spoke.

"So," Mu said, "Madara taught you the basics, correct?"

Natsu closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of relaxation. "Yeah, he did. He even taught me his fire release jutsu."

Mu nodded. "I see, well that saves me a lot of time. I have decided to wait a week's time before beginning your training with me. This is to let you catch up with Igneel, as well as for me to go over the best way to teach you." Mu stated.

Natsu looked relieved. "Thanks." Natsu said, before suddenly opening his eyes widely. "Oh! I forgot something!"

Mu and Igneel looked at Natsu with an eyebrow raised. "What is it?/ **What?** " They both said.

"I still need to show you that technique I made!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly.

Igneel smirked. " **Yeah, you do. I look forward to it.** "

Natsu grinned. "Yeah, it's really awesome. In fact it's based off of a technique that was created in the Elemental Nations!"

Mu looked surprised at this. Err... however surprised you can look under bandages. "May I ask which one?" He asked.

Natsu frowned. "I don't know if you would know it... The guy who created it was born after you died.

"Actually, when I was reanimated by Kabuto, all his knowledge of the current situation was implanted in my head, so actually, I might know it." Mu said.

Natsu nodded. "Alright. Well, It's called the Chidori, One Thousand Birds, created by Kakashi Hatake.

Mu looked thoughtful for a second before answering. "Ah, yes. An A-Rank assassination jutsu requiring the user to gather lightning chakra in their palm for immense piercing power."

Natsu nodded. "Well, my technique is like that, however I use flames instead of lightning. Also, mine is powered by magic instead of chakra, since the flames used are from my Fire Dragon Slayer Magic."

Igneel huffed proudly. " **What did you name your technique?** " He asked.

Natsu grinned. "Well, when I used it for the first time, it didn't sound anything like chirping birds. Instead, I thought it sounded more like Igneel roaring, so I decided to name it Sen Ryu, One Thousand Dragons. Later though, I thought about it more, and decided that since it was based off of Fire Dragon Slaying Magic, I needed to add something more to the name, so now it's name is Ryupou: Sen Ryu, Dragon Art: One Thousand Dragons." Natsu explained.

Mu nodded his head at the explanation. Igneel grinned.

" **Sounds like a powerful technique, but what's the difference between it and Fire Dragon's Iron Fist?** "

Natsu smirked. "You'll find out tomorrow."

THE NEXT DAY AT A CLEARING

" **Alright Natsu, show me this technique you've been talking about.** " Igneel said.

Natsu formed the dense sand wall that he had originally used the technique on. When it was ready, Natsu turned to Igneel.

"First, I'm going to show you the difference between it, and Fire Dragon's Iron Fist." Natsu said.

Igneel nodded. " **Alright.** " He replied.

Natsu charged at the wall and yelled.

 **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**

When Natsu's fist collided with the wall, a huge plume of sand flew up into the air, obscuring vision of the wall, and a loud boom could be heard. When the dust finally settled, the wall had a little crater where Natsu's fist had impacted, with cracks running outwards.

Igneel raised an eyebrow. " **That wall must be hella tough to be able to survive that.** "

Natsu smirked. "Now watch _this_ "

In Natsu's hand was a whitish flame, brighter than any flame Igneel had ever seen. The fire seemed to gather in the tips of Natsu's fingers, before running down, past his hand, and stopping a little bit past his wrist, making it look like a spear. From the flame, he could hear the sound of dragons roaring, as if trying to scare off any enemies Natsu would face. Natsu charged at the wall yet again.

 **Ryupou: Sen Ryu!**

When Natsu hit the wall _this_ time, there was no cloud of sand, so Igneel could see the results perfectly. And what he saw made his jaw drop. Natsu stood there with his arm up to his shoulder buried into the wall, his hand sticking out the other side, it was as if the sand were made of butter. When Natsu removed his arm from the wall, there were no cracks, or any sign of impact other than the hole that went straight through the wall.

Igneel looked at Natsu with wide eyes. " **So. How'd you do that?** " Igneel asked.

Natsu grinned at him. "It's like the iron fist, except you have to focus all your fire into one point on your hand. For you, I suppose it would make sense for that point to be on the tip of your claw."

Igneel smirked. " **Thanks, I'll have it down by the time you're done with Mu, so you'd better have something cool to show me when you get back!** " _Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be learning from a human..._

FIRST DAY TRAINING WITH MU

Currently, we find Natsu walking alongside Mu in the forest surrounding the den. The birds are chirping peacefully, and the forest seems to be humming with life. Suddenly, Mu stops.

"We're here." Mu says.

Natsu looks around, clearly confused. "What do you mean? We're between a bunch of trees..."

"Actually, I'll show you what you're going to be learning from me." Mu said.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's that?"

Mu stepped forward, with both his arms pointed straight forward. His hands were facing palm forward, with both his thumbs extended from the rest of their respective hands. All of a sudden, a small, transparent, white box appeared in front of his hands. Suddenly, the box disappeared, only for a massive version to appear over the forest in front of them, encompassing several hundred trees.

 **Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!**

When Mu used the jutsu, smoke filled the entire box, rendering everything inside completely invisible. When the smoke cleared, Natsu's draw dropped. The trees, along with everything else inside the box, were completely gone without a trace. Nothing remained, and where the edges of the box were was perfectly straight.

"As you can see, particle style disintegrates _anything_ down to a molecular level. Nothing can counter it, except your truth seeking orbs." Mu explained

Natsu was having a hard time recovering. _The amount of damage this jutsu can cause it insane. It's not even a rinnegan or six paths technique, and yet it has enough power to be one!_

Natsu suddenly went into genius mode. "So this is what I will be learning from you?" Natsu asked.

"Yes," Mu replied. "However, this is not the only thing. You are aware of what my nickname was back in the Elemental Nations, correct?"

Natsu thought for a moment. "Yeah, you were known as the Null-Man, right?"

Mu nodded. "Yes, it was because I used a jutsu known as the **Dustless Bewildering Cover** to completely hide my body and chakra signature. Along with this, I used the **Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique** to levitate myself. Both these jutsu cost extremely little portions of my chakra reserve, and considering your chakra reserves, I have no doubt that you could most likely use them for your entire life and not run our of chakra.

"Well then," Natsu said. "Let's get started!"

TWO MONTHS LATER

Natsu had finally mastered all of Mu's signature jutsu. Through combining his **Dustless Bewildering Cover** and **Kamui** , Natsu could truly become a ghost, being able to fly using **Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique.** His particle style was on par with Mu's, through extensive use of shadow clones. Once again, however, we find Natsu saying goodbye to yet another teacher.

"Well, I guess I'll see you when I die Mu." Natsu said.

Mu sweat dropped. "Yeah... I suppose you will. But before I leave, I also have a gift for you." Mu said as he pulled something out of seemingly nowhere.

Natsu's eyes opened wide. "Really! What is it!" Natsu yelled happily.

Mu pulled the object in front of him. It was a Sunagakure headband. "This headband was your father's during the war. He must of dropped it near me during the sealing process. I know this can't really comp-" Mu was about to continue, but couldn't, due to the fact that all his air was currently being squeezed out by Natsu's bear hug.

"To me, it means more than the sharingan ever could. Thank you so much." Natsu whispered, with tears in the corners of his eyes.

Mu was shocked. Did someone just hug _him_? This was certainly new. However despite that, Mu gave his first and only eye-smile.

Natsu looked at him with a shocked expression, before it eventually turned to a smile. "YOU JUST SMILED!" Natsu yelled with a raised fist. "MARK THIS ONE DOWN IN THE HISTORY BOOKS FELLAS!"

Mu chuckled. "Well Natsu, I assume you know the drill by now. I will also be going back. It was... fun... training you. I only have one more thing to say, Natsu. And that is to put your trust in people. Don't live your life alone." Mu said as he disappeared.

Natsu stared at the spot where Mu was just a second ago. "Thank you..." He whispered to himself, as he put on his Sunagakue shinobi headband.

 **I know the Gaara's headband thing is fucking ridiculous, but I needed a way for Natsu to have a headband. You'll see why later :D**


	7. CH-7: Alone?

**I'm currently considering adding an OC to the story to take the place of cannon Natsu. I feel like Fairy Tail wouldn't be Fairy Tail without an idiot around. But ultimately it wouldn't matter to me much, I could write around it. What do you guys think? Also, I might change the pairing to an OC (Not the Natsu replacement). It's not guaranteed though. Give me your opinion :D**

It's been a full year since Natsu came to the world of Fiore, during this time he has found new friends, as well as somewhat of a new family in Igneel. Right now, however, we find natsu reminiscing over his time in the strange land.

 _Man... It's hard to believe I've been here for a full year... It feels like it was only a month ago that I was dropped off in the middle of that forest. I'm really glad that I found Igneel when I did, otherwise, I would of most likely died wandering alone in that forest. And I got to learn Fire Dragon Slayer Magic! Who knew a dragon would teach someone magic that's specifically meant to kill them, right? I even invented my own signature move! Even if it is based off of Kakashi's jutsu... But hey, copying from the copy ninja, am I right? Hehehe. Learning from Six Paths Sensei, Madara, and Mu was fun too I suppose, even if Mu was a little cold. But all in all, a great year! Hopefully all future years will be just as good!_

Unfortunately for Natsu, however, things were about to take a big turn for the worse. But for now, we can see Natsu going back to training with Igneel.

Natsu ran into the den full speed, and crashed straight into a certain red dragon. "HEY IGNEEL! I'M BACK! AND I GOT SOME SUPER COOL STUFF FROM MUMMY-SENSEI!" Natsu yelled.

Igneel felt Natsu bump into him and turned around. " **Oh, you're back... WELL GUESS WHAT?** " Igneel said.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "What?"

 **RYUPOU: SEN RYU!**

Igneel called out the spell and shoved his claw straight through a rock. " **Pretty good, huh? Now what did** _ **you**_ **learn?** "

Natsu grinned. "Heh. I'll show ya!" Natsu motioned for Igneel to follow him as he ran to the entrance of the cave looking out onto rows and rows of trees.

" **What do we have to come over here for?** " Igneel asked.

"Watch this." Was all Natsu said, before he put his arms strait out, with his hands making the shape of a diamond in front of him. All of a sudden, a white cube appeared in front of his hands.

" **What's that little cube gonna do kid?** " Igneel asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Natsu ignored him and looked at the forest. Then, the cube disappeared, before appearing again over the forest, albeit one thousand times larger.

 **Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!**

Igneel's eyes widened as smoke filled the interior of the cube. When the smoke cleared, the box fizzled out of existence, and Igneel could see what had happened inside the box. Every single thing inside had been completely annihilated, with nothing remaining. On top of that, the disintegration had been done so precise, that it looked as if it had been laser cut.

" **Whoa, that's one hell of a technique you've got there Natsu.** " Igneel said with a smirk.

Natsu grinned. "Yeah!" Natsu said, before returning to genius mode. "Although, upon further examination, I can see a few ways for the style to be expanded. Maybe even into a taijutsu style?"

Igneel sweat dropped at his sudden transition. " **Nice?... Anyways, we're going to finish up on your dragon slayer training, so you'd better be ready!** "

Natsu suddenly started laughing. " **Huh? What's so funny brat?** " Igneel asked with a confused expression.

"It's j-just that you s-sounded exactly l-like Six Paths Sensei, Madara, and Mu w-when you s-said that." Natsu managed to stutter out between fits of laughter.

Igneel huffed and looked away. " **Hmph. Just be ready tomorrow brat.** "

TWO YEARS LATER

Natsu is now eight years old, and has finished his dragon slayer training with Igneel. He now wears Gaara's coat, slim black jeans, and plain white sneakers. Of course, he still has his gourd, as well as the Ebony Blade, but he prefers to keep them sealed when he's just relaxing. To cover his rinnesharingan, he uses his Sunagakure head band, much like Kakashi. He even gets most of his spiky, pink hair to stick out above the headband, also like Kakashi. When he wasn't training his dragon slayer magic, he spent his time perfecting particle style. He can now cover his hands in molecular sized particle cubes, to disintegrate anything he touches within a small area. On top of this, he advanced the capabilities of the **Atomic Dismantling: Pillar** by making it able to curve, much like Darui's **Laser Circus**.

Right now, though, Natsu just couldn't figure out where Igneel had went. Natsu had been waiting for a week, and still igneel hadn't shown up. He hadn't even said where he was going, he just left. Straight outta the blue. _He must be hunting or something. Oh well... I'll just wait for him to come back!_ Natsu thought, before running off to explore in the forest.

THREE WEEKS LATER

 _It's been a month... Igneel has never taken over a week to go hunting... Did he abandon me? Maybe he thought I was too weak... NO! Igneel would never do that. But then the only possible explanation is... N-no... n-not again... T-this can't be..._ Natsu thought with tears running down his cheeks as he sobbed.

"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!" Natsu roared to the sky.

 _E-every time I-I accept p-people as my f-family they end up g-g-gone. F-first mom and dad, then Six Paths Sensei, Madara, and Mu, and now Igneel!_ Natsu thought as he lay on the ground in the pouring rain, crying miserably. _I guess that friends and family just ain't for me, eh? Well, I suppose the only thing I have left to do in my life is defeat Acnologia..._

Nobody could of seen it coming... Hell, even Natsu didn't realize it. But gone was the fun-loving little boy that would play merrily in the village of Suna. Now, there was only the genius dragon-slayer trained solely to defeat the dragon of destruction.

A WEEK LATER

Natsu was taking a nap on a tree branch, exhausted after a long day of flying through the forest.

" **Hey brat.** "

Natsu jumped into the air, turned invisible, and grabbed his sword all in one motion.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Who's there?" Natsu asked.

" **No need to get so worked up kid, I'm in your head.** "

Natsu looked confused. "How can you be in my head? That makes no sense."

" **Just wait a second and I'll explain, and by the way, just think what you want to say to me. If you talk out loud around other humans it might seem weird."**

Natsu found it a little suspicious how this voice addressed people as 'humans', but decided to trust it for now.

" _Alright, now explain._ "

" **My name is Shukaku, the one-tailed beast** "

" _WHAT?! Why are you in my head? And more importantly how are you not in the Elemental Nations?_ "

" **Whoa, whoa. Slow down there kid. In reverse order, I'm not in the Elemental Nations because I asked dad to bring me with him, I'm in your head because I'm sealed in you, and I don't know how to answer the first question to be honest.** "

" _Hmm... Alright. Your father must be Six Paths Sensei then, but why are you sealed in me?_ "

" **Because I asked him to seal me in you.** "

" _Why?_ "

" **Two reasons. One, being sealed in Naruto was super fucking boring, and painful because he's dumber than a rock.** "

Natsu sweat dropped. " _I gotta agree with you there._ "

" **Two, I want to help you to make up for what I did to Gaara.** "

" _Sounds good I guess. So... uh... Not to try and sound rude, but how do you help me other than giving me a huge chakra boost?_ "

" **Well first of all, you can do the tailed-beast transformation, which is totally awesome.** "

Natsu sweat dropped yet again.

" **Second, your sand abilities get a huge boost in power. And third, you gain the magnet release bloodline limit.** "

Natsu's jaw dropped, before suddenly realizing something. " _Wait a minute, then how come dad didn't have magnet release?_ "

" **He did, you've just never seen him use it.** "

" _Oh... So then will I be able to use iron sand and gold dust?_ "

" **Yeah, you will. But It'l take some practice. Luckily I know how to teach ya.** **Oh, actually I just came up with a pretty sweet idea.** "

" _Well, let's hear it then._ "

" **Come into your mindscape first, then I'll tell you.** "

" _Uhh... How exactly?_ "

" **Just close your eyes and think about it for a bit** "

Natsu face faulted. " _Uh, ok. Thanks for the advice. I'll get right on that._ "

NATSU'S MINDSCAPE

Natsu opened his eyes and saw that he appeared to be in a huge sewer. He walked around for a while before finally seeing the Shukaku behind a huge gate.

"Uh, why are you in a cage, Shukaku?"

" **It's not like I want to be, brat. But that's what the seal does, so I have no choice."**

Natsu smirked. "We'll see about that."

Natsu closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating. Shukaku looked around him as the sewer slowly started to disappear, followed by the cage, only to be replaced by a huge desert. It seemed to stretch on infinitely, and the skies above were blue, and clear of clouds. Shukaku felt something on his arm and looked down to see a small red armband that said 'SEAL' on it. But apart from that, there was no indication that he was sealed.

" **Whoa, well I didn't know that was possible. Thank you, Natsu.** "

Natsu grinned. "Can't have my new friend living in a dump, now can I"

" **Hahaha, you remind me of Naruto sometimes, y'know?** "

Natsu looked horrified. "NO! Really?! How do I fix it?! PLEASE TELL ME!"

Shukaku laughed loudly. " **Just kidding. Now, about my amazing plan.** **Here, take this.** " Shukaku pulled a long scroll out of the sand and set it down in front of Natsu. " **Put some of your blood on the scroll.** "

Natsu did as Shukaku told him, and put his blood on the scroll. As soon as the blood touched the scroll, it glowed bright white. When it returned to normal, Natsu took a peek at what was on the scroll. Natsu raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

 _Summoning Contract of the Tanuki_

 _Summoners:_

 _\- Natsu_

"So this is a summoning contract?"

" **Yeah, and you're the first person to ever sign** _ **this**_ **one.** "

"Why?" Natsu asked with a curious expression.

" **Didn't really feel like giving it to anyone."** Shukaku replied with a shrug.

Natsu sweat dropped. "Ok... So how does this pertain to your plan?"

" **Basically, the idea is to put a transportation seal on the inside of your gourd. Then, you summon one of my Tanuki, and have him reverse summon to the Elemental Nations. Once he's there, he puts the transportation seal linked to your gourd in the middle of the desert, therefor giving you infinite sand!** " Shukaku explained.

Natsu went wide eyed. "Wow... I didn't even know that was possible..."

" **Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Anyways, off you go now, Imma go play in the sand!** "

Natsu smiled. "Alright, see ya later!"

A FEW DAYS LATER

Natsu is currently walking along the streets of Magnolia, looking for ways to get money. _I'm going to need someplace to wait until Acnologia shows himself. Might as well get some place to live. Magnolia seems pretty decent. The prices here are fairly cheap and there are dense forests nearby to train in._ Natsu thought to himself as he walked down the road, completely lost in thought, until he heard something that caught his interest.

"Hey have you heard about Fairy Tail's latest mishap?"

"Yeah, supposedly they blew up half a mountain this time."

"Wow... But they probably need the firepower. After all, the best guild probably gets the toughest, and highest reward missions."

* _laughter_ *

"I suppose you're right!"

 _Fairy tail, huh?_ Natsu thought. He had heard of them before. Supposedly the biggest troublemakers in Fiore, but still one of, if not the strongest guild out there. _I suppose it couldn't hurt to join, after all, I need the money. But I don't want to be pulled in to their 'family' bullshit. I just need the money..._ In the end, Natsu decided it was worth it and walked towards the massive building at the end of the city. But as he was walking there, Shukaku started to speak up again.

" **Natsu.** "

" _Yeah?_ "

" **I just had another great idea.** "

 _Oh boy..._ " _What is is this time?_ "

" **Well, I remembered that Kurama's hosts can do this chakra cloak thing. Since I can obviously do better than Kurama at everything ever, I came up with something similar, but wayyyy better.** "

Natsu face faulted at his explanation. " _I.. see... Well, what is it that you came up with then?_ "

" **Go into the forest first, some of those dumb humans might freak out.** "

Natsu groaned. " _Alright, fine._ "

After Natsu made it to the forest, Shukaku asked him to enter his mindscape, so he did.

" **Yo"**

Natsu sighed. "Hey"

Shukaku held out his fist. " **Fist bump me, and then leave your mindscape. You'll see what happens...** "

"Alright"

When Natsu returned to the real world, he made a circle of sand, and applied his fire chakra, instantly turning it to glass. His reflection in the make-shift mirror startled him. He was clad in some sort of demonic looking sand armour. The helmet had horns, and completely covered his face, only leaving two holes for the eyes. The chest piece had spikes coming off the shoulders, and the front looked somewhat like a ribcage. The gauntlets had spiked fingers, and the boots were equally as demonic. On his back there was a long spear with red, tribal markings on it. The spear end had four spikes, seemingly randomly placed, like a flame. **(AN: I'm horrible at explaining things, go look at a picture of daedric armour, but imagine it made completely of sand. The spear is just the spear of shukaku)**

" _Well this is certainly interesting. How much chakra will it consume to keep it active?_ "

" **None, I keep it active with my own chakra.** "

" _What does it do? How tough is the armour and spear?_ "

" **It does everything that Naruto's kurama chakra mode can do.** "

Natsu could hear the pride rolling off Shukaku's words. " _Which is?..._ "

" **It increases all your physical attributes, as well as your durability. I don't know** _ **exactly**_ **how much, but I** _ **do**_ **know that Naruto deflected five tailed beast bombs** _ **at the same time**_ **during the war. He also out-sped the fourth raikage in that form, who was said to be the fastest man alive at the time. Another thing Kurama told me is that Naruto was able to combine it with his Six Paths Sage Mode for an even greater effect.** "

Natsu was stunned. He knew he could do all that easily in his Six Paths Sage Mode, but this was something almost as strong, and for zero chakra cost. _And_ he could combine it with his Six Paths Sage Mode to increase it's potential exponentially.

" **As for the armour and spear... well the armour actually** _ **is**_ **the chakra cloak, so what I just described comes from that. The spear is practically invincible, as it is made from the same chakra as your armour. You should be able to make it cut through whatever you want, depending on how much of my chakra you put into it.** "

"Well Shukaku, in my opinion your better than Kurama."

" **FINALLY! Someone agrees with me!** "

Natsu chuckles. _At least I can have Shukaku as my friend, I know he'll never go away..._

" **By the way, I wanna start training your magnet release now, I can detect a lot of minerals nearby.** "

Natsu sighed. " _I guess joining a guild will have to wait then, eh?_ "

" **Whatever, It'l only be like two weeks or something with those weird clones you can make. And DON'T COMPLAIN! I mean, it's not every day that you get a teacher as awesome as me to teach you.** "

Natsu sweat dropped. "Right..."


	8. CH-8: A never ending adventure!

They say that a town's atmosphere reflects the guild within. Magnolia town is no exception. If someone were to spend a day inside Fairy Tail's guild hall, then spend a day walking around Magnolia, they would say the same. But today we see someone who seems to be trying to _avoid_ Magnolia's charm. He walks through the town with a headband holding up his spiky pink hair, and covering one eye. His emotionless face and eye give away nothing as to what he thinks of the town, and his body language is the same. He wears a red trench coat that seperates in the front and back past the waist, with a painting of a black dragon on the left side. He also wears slim black jeans, and simple white sneakers that somehow manage to never pick up any dirt. On his back there's a heavy looking gourd, and a huge blade that somehow sticks to his back without anything holding it in place. This person is none other than Kobarutosuna no Natsu, as he now decided to call himself, as he had no surname.

His name was born during one of his magnet release training sessions with Shukaku. Shukaku had asked Natsu to bring forth as many minerals as he could from ground beneath them. Natsu attempted this, and after a few minutes, a few chunks of iron, gold, and silver came to surface. A few seconds later, however, Natsu heard a loud rumbling noise, almost like an earthquake. Natsu looked around him for whatever was causing the noise, but saw nothing. Then, he noticed a few cracks forming on the ground beside him. Almost as soon as the cracks formed, massive chunks of cobalt started pouring out of the new cracks in the ground, almost quadruple the amount of iron he had brought forward. From then on, Natsu had the easiest time controlling cobalt dust, and it was his favourite thing to manipulate, other than sand. Of course, Natsu had to find a way to carry his cobalt dust, so he drew the largest storage seal he had ever made, right onto the inside of his gourd. His cobalt maniupulation was so good that it was already on par, if not better than his sand. And it was from this that Natsu came up with his new name, Kobarutosuna no Natsu. Natsu of the Cobalt Sand.

 _This town is extremely annoying,_ Natsu thought. _I can only hope that I don't get roped into whatever go-lucky crap Fairy Tail has going on at their place. Hopefully there are apartment complexes on the edges of town, I can't stand all this noise. Apparently you get a discount on food in the guild hall, so that's a bonus. The only downside is that I'll have to actually stay in the guild hall for more than a minute..._ Snapping out of his thoughts, Natsu looked up to see that he had finally made it to Fairy Tail's guild hall.

FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL

Things were pretty chill in the guild as of now. Macao and Wakaba were sitting at the bar, casually sippin their beers. Gray was stripped down to his underwear of course, and was sitting on one of the benches. Nearby, you could find Reedus painting a picture, and Makarov silently enjoying a drink. All in all, it was a pretty normal day in the guild. That is, until a certain pink-haired someone decided to slam the doors open.

Natsu walked through the doors with his normal emotionless face. "I wish to speak to Master Makarov." He stated in a monotonous voice.

The guild became dead quiet in an instant.

Makarov looked up from his drink with interest. "That would be me, young man. What would you like to speak to me about?"

Natsu quickly scanned the rest of the room, before narrowing his eyes at Makarov. "I would like to request to join this guild." He stated.

Makarov raised his eyebrows. "Well then..." Makarov seemed calm while speaking, but on the inside it was a whole different story. _I can't read this boy at all. It's like he's completely devoid of emotions. What has caused him to be like this?..._ "you're in!" Makarov continued.

Natsu maintained his expressionless face, but nodded. "Very well. Thank you, Master Makarov." He said, before starting to walk to the bar.

Makarov suddenly adopted a shocked expression. "Oh! Where are my manners? This person here beside me is Reedus, and that's Gray, Macao, and Wakaba!" He paused for a second before continuing. "May I ask your name lad?"

Natsu stopped for a moment and turned to him. "I am Natsu." He stated simply.

Makarov frowned at this. "What about your last name?" He asked.

Natsu shook his head while responding. "I do not have a surname. However, if it is a requirement, you may address me as Kobarutosuna no Natsu, or Natsu of the Cobalt Sand." Makarov nodded with a smile as Natsu continued on towards the bar.

The guild was still remaining quiet, but that soon faded as people began whispering.

"That guy sure is suspiscious... He's like a robot..."

"I wonder what magic he uses..."

"What's with that weird looking container on his back?"

"That sword sure looks nasty... Where'd he get it?"

"What's under that headband of his?"

"It's probably to cover up an injury if you ask me..."

The whispering continued until a certain semi-naked, raven-haired ice mage decided to speak up.

"Oi! Robot! Aren't you going to introduce yourself at least? After all, we are your new guildmates..." Gray asked.

Natsu completely ignored him, as if he wasn't even there. He just kept walking towards the bar with the same emotionless face. _I don't have time for this idiotic pervert. I need to start doing missions as soon as possible. Hopefully, there will be a few assassinations or bounties I can complete. They should be exceptionally easy with my_ _ **Cobalt Coffin**_ _, I don't think anyone could break out of it. Maybe Igneel or Madara, but even they would struggle, let alone any of these pathetic mages. I don't think I would eve-_

"Hey! I'm talkin to ya buddy!" Gray shouted at him, clearly extremely annoyed by Natsu's behaviour.

 _I swear to god, these stupid mages are going to kill me with idiocy before I can even REACH Acnologia! I suppose if introducing myself is a requirement, then I will be forced to do so._

Natsu reached the bar and sat down. After a few seconds, he looked at the Makarov. "Master, is introducing myself a requirement?"

Makarov frowned. "No, but it would be nice for you to do so, after all, we don't know anything about you!"

 _Makarov seems like a nice guy, I could get along fine with him. I suppose there is no harm in introducing myself._

Natsu let out an unnoticeable sigh. "Very well, I shall introduce myself." _How should I go about this... I suppose I'll just go with the way Kakashi told me to when I first met him..._

FLASHBACK

 _"Hey dad! Where are we going this time? Can we go to Iwa again please?! They have such cool houses there!" Natsu repeatedly bombared Gaara with questions._

 _"Actually Natsu," Gaara replied, "We're going to Konoha."_

 _Natsu suddenly became very excited. "CAN I FINALLY MEET NARUTO!?"_

 _Gaara laughed. "You can, but don't expect much... He's rather idiotic if you ask me."_

 _Natsu huffed. "No way, he saved the whole entire world! There's no way he's stupid."_

 _TWO HOURS LATER_

 _"HI! I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO! DATTEBAYO!"_

 _How could someone so powerful be so idiotic? Thought a recently facefaulted Natsu._

 _Suddenly, a man appeared behind Naruto. The man was wearing normal shinobi attire, sandals, military pants with a kunai holder, and a flak jacket. Above that, he wore a mask that completely covered the lower half of his face. His hair was silver and spiked strait up, with a little bit of a curve._

 _He eye smiled at Natsu. "You must be Gaara's son! Hello, I'm Kakashi Hatake, and this idiot beside me is Naruto Uzumaki. Why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future!"_

 _Natsu beamed back at him. "Ok! My likes are..."_

FLASHBACK END

Natsu looked up and realized everyone was waiting on him to give his introduction. He took a deep breath, and then spoke. _Here goes..._

"Hello, my name is Natsu, I am eight years of age. Everything I liked in this world is now gone. Things I dislike include traitors, sweet foods, warmongers, and people who cannot tell the difference between the beast and it's jailor. My hobbies are training and meditating. The only dream I have is a goal set for me by someone who is now gone. And that is to kill the dragon known as Acnologia."

Natsu inwardly smirked. _Guess they realize now that I'm not an ordinary eight year old. As a matter of fact, from what I can tell, I'd be the strongest person in this guild EVEN if I only used my dragon slaying magic._

His introduction shocked everyone in the guild into complete and utter silence. Thoughts were running through everyone's heads, especially Makarov's.

 _This boy is a strange one. Something tragic must have happened to him for him to become like this. He talks as if he's quadruple his own age for god's sake. Most of his introduction seemed normal, but what does he mean by 'people who cannot see the difference between the beast and it's jailor'. It MUST have some sort of other meaning. And does he really think he can defeat Acnologia?_ Thought Makarov.

 _He must be really strong if he thinks he can beat Acnologia... Either that or he's insane. Probably the latter to be honest. I'll just have to fight him to find out!_ Thought a determined Gray.

Macao and Wakaba were much simpler. _Huh. That's one weird kid..._ They both thought.

"Anyways," continued Natsu, causing everyone to look at him with dumb expressions, still processing everything he had said in his introduction. "Master, where am I to look for missions? Preferably assassinations, or bounties. If there are no missions of this kind, I would like the mission with the highest reward" Natsu asked, still in his emotionless monotone.

If the people of Fairy Tail were shocked before, then they could now be considered tasered. Some people even fainted. Makarov, however, only gained a frown.

 _Shit, assassinations must be outlawed in this place. God damnit, there goes some easy money. I'm fairly certain that Makarov won't kick me out for just asking though._

"Natsu, I'm assuming you don't know this, but assassination jobs are considered criminal activity in Fiore, so no, we don't have any. As for bounties, there are none as of now, but I'm sure some will come in later. For normal missions though, just head over to the request board, I'm sure you'll find something you like." Makarov told Natsu.

"I see, thank you for informing me, Master." Natsu responded. He seemed calm, but on the inside he let out a huge sigh of relief. _It would've been a huge thorn in my side if I were to be kicked out already._

Makarov smiled at him and took a big sip of his beer. "No problem! And by the way, you're going to need our guild mark, y'know, in order to prove that you're in our guild!" He said, and walked over to Natsu with the stamp.

"Where do ya want it? And what colour?" Makarov asked.

 _Somewhere easy to show, if I want to, and at the same time easy to conceal if I don't want someone to know._ He thought. Then Shukaku decided to speak up.

" **Get it on your arm, kid. It'l make it easy to cover with sand.** "

Natsu inwardly nodded approvingly. " _Good idea, Shukaku._ "

" **Hey! I ain't the greatest bijuu for nothin!** "

" _Right..._ "

Natsu rolled up his sleeve. "I would like it on my left forearm, please. In red."

Makarov pressed the stamp on Natsu's forearm for a few seconds then took it off. "Done! You're all ready to go!" Makarov stated cheerfully. Natsu just nodded at him, and went to go get a job request.

Natsu was walking over to the request board, only to be stopped by a red-haired girl with a stern expression on her face.

 _So many of these idiots! Can't they see that I don't want to speak to any of them? Or are they too stupid for even that!_

" **I say you should just knock em out when they start becoming a problem.** "

" _I would, but I think Makarov would get angry._ "

" **Oh yeahhhhh. I forgot that guy was so caring. God damnit.** "

" _Indeed..._ "

"Did I just hear you talking about assassination missions?" She asked, with a sword in her hand. "Are you a dark mage!?" She began shouting at him. Natsu remained expressionless.

"I don't know what a dark mage is. I've never even taken a request before, this is my first guild. The only reason I asked about assassination missions is due to the fact that where I come from, assassination missions were common, and very easy for someone with my skillset." Natsu replied.

 _It's taking every fucking ounce of my will not to slap this moron with a healthy dose of particle style..._

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying you've assassinated innocent people before?"

"No, I haven't." Natsu responded.

She seemed to breath a sigh of relief. "Then how do you know so well that you're suited for them?"

Natsu hesitated for a moment before answering. "My father had somewhat the same abilities as me. By the time he was eleven, he had completed seventy-eight missions, without any enemy even managing to touch him. The majority of these missions were assassinations, so I assume they would be just as easy for me."

The girl's eyes widened in shock. "JUST WHAT KIND OF GUILD FORCES AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD BOY TO DO JOBS?! LET ALONE ASSASSINATIONS!" She roared.

Natsu remained impassive. "My father was not part of a guild, in fact, where we come from, there are no such thing as guilds."

The girl adopted a curious expression. "What do you mean?"

"He hailed from the Village Hidden in the Sand. This is one of five great shinobi villages, which are constantly at war with each other. Shinobi are trained from a young age to live and die for the village, and most die before the age of twenty five." Natsu explained.

The girl, along with every other person in the guild gasped in horror. "Just where the hell is this place? You'd think that people may of heard of it by now." The girl asked him.

"You don't need to know." Natsu said as he tried to walk past the girl, but she stopped him.

"Fine, don't tell us. But you still need someone to go with you on your first mission. It is a guild requirement." The girl stated.

 _This has got to be a fucking joke. If I have to take along one of these morons I'm going to end up killing my parter before I kill the enemy!_

Natsu narrowed his eyes at her, before turning to Makarov. "Master, is this true?"

Makarov sighed. 'Yes, it is, Natsu."

" _Shukaku_ "

" **Yeah?** "

" _What's the best way to make someone shut up?_ "

Shukaku sighed. " **Don't ask me, I spent years inside Naruto trying to do exactly what you say, but did it ever work? Nope. Not for even a second.** "

" _Shit._ "

Natsu paused for a second before speaking. "Very well. Who here is the fas-"

She cut him off. "Actually, I have a proposal for you." She paused for a few seconds, but continued. "By the way, my name is Erza Scarlet."

 _This idiot again..._

Natsu looked at her. "Fine. What is it?" Natsu asked, now on the breaking point. Not that he let it show, however.

"You have to fight me one versus one. If you win, I'll come with you on your first mission. I'm one of the strongest mages in the guild, so It'l make your mission go smooth as silk." Erza told him with a smirk, thinking he'd definetly want her help.

 _Hmm... she's rather small, it will be fairy easy to fit her inside a ball of sand to carry around with me._

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "I don't need help. I need someone who won't slow me down."

Everyone in the guild's eyes widened. Did this new guy just tell Erza he didn't need her? Did he even value his life?

Erza was shocked for a second before getting angry. "I'll have you know tha-"

 _She's very full of herself, let's see if she has the talent to back it up..._

Natsu cut her off. "I don't care. Fine, if you want to come, I couldn't care less, I'm wasting time by standing here. Let's just fight already. Natsu said as he walked out the door towards the training field.

By now, everyone in the guild was deathly silent, scared of how Erza might react to being unable to intimidate someone.

THE TRAINING FIELD

The guild gathered outside around the training field. Makarov stood atop a stool, taking bets in a large brown bag. Everyone crowded him, desperately trying to bet as much as possible on Erza. There was no way some random new guy could just walk in and beat one of their best members, right? The odds were _so_ stacked against Natsu, that even placing one jewel on Natsu would result in a one hundred jewel gain. Natsu noticed this, however, and decided to take advantage of the situation.

He found someone who had yet to place a bet, and walked over to him.

"Hello." Natsu greeted him with a monotone.

"Umm... Hi?" The man responded sounding nervous.

"Place fifty thousand jewels on me. After I win, we'll split it fifty fifty." Natsu told him.

The man just looked at him incredulously. "You really think you can beat Erza?!" He asked.

 _Why does everyone seem so confident in that idiot?_

"Yes, I'm one hundred percent sure that I can. Now place the bet." He stated.

The man sweat dropped. "What if you lose..."

Natus sighed. "If I lose, I'll pay you back double the amount you lose."

The man's head shot up like a bullet, with a huge smile. "DEAL!" He said, as he rushed over to place the bet.

Hearing the exchange, everyone just looked at Natsu, clearly stunned by his declaration. _This guy is really serious?_ Everyone thought.

The spectators whooped and cheered as Natsu and Erza walked onto the field. People yelled things like, "Kick his ass, Erza!", "Win me some money!", and "Don't get too discouraged from your loss! She's one of the best!". The man who bet on Natsu was just grinning like a mad man. _Easiest one hundred thousand of my life!_ He thought. Natsu just ignored everyone and walked onto the field with his arms crossed. Erza walked on the other side, still dressed in her regular Heart Kruez armour. _Whatever,_ she thought, _don't need anything special to beat this newbie._

She drew her blade, and got into a ready stance. Then she looked at her opponent. He seemed to be doing... Absolutely nothing. He just stood there with his arms crossed, looking at the ground in front of him with his one visible eye closed.

"Hey, you gonna use your sword or something?" She yelled across the field at him.

He shook his head, eye still closed. "Don't need it." He stated.

She grit her teeth in frustration, before suddenly smiling. _He must think I'm weak. Heh, I'll show him._ She thought. She looked at Makarov, who was now dressed in a referee uniform, and nodded. Makarov then looked at Natsu, who was still doing nothing. Shrugging, Makarov began to announce.

"This match will be a one against one! Erza Scarlet against Natsu of the Cobalt Sand! This will be a friendly battle, no serious injuries, and no killing is allowed! The battle will now commence! BEGIN!" Makarov shouted from his stool.

Erza decided to briefly assess the situation before jumping in. _He seems to be very sure of himself. Which most likely means he's positive that whatever I attack him with will not be able to hit him. His name must also factor into it, Natsu of the Cobalt Sand. He must be some sort of sand mage. I know Cobalt is a mineral, but I have no idea how that would factor into his abilities. Well, only one way to find out I suppose!_ She let out a mighty battle cry and charged towards Natsu.

 _She's pretty slow to be honest. I thought she was one of the best in the guild? Oh well..._ Natsu thought, inwardly sighing. He could hear her loud footsteps drawing closer. _No need to open my eyes. She's slower than a fucking chuunin._

From the spectators perspective, all they could see was Natsu apparently accepting his fate.

"Oh well, it was to be expected I suppose."

"Yeah, the boy had it coming the moment he stood up to Erza."

"Poor kid, and on his first day, too."

With his enhanced dragon slayer senses, he could hear very clearly what they were saying. _They sure are confident in her ability... Looks like I'll just have to knock her down a few pegs._ He thought, inwardly smirking.

Some people couldn't help but cover their eyes as Erza drew ever so closer to Natsu, who still had his eyes closed. _This ain't gonna be pretty..._ some people thought. Three seconds later, people realized that the expected cry of agony wasn't going to happen, so they opened their eyes. When they saw what happened, their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

Natsu was still in the exact same position as when they started. But when Erza's sword came down to strike at Natsu, sand rushed out of the gourd faster than the eye could follow, and wrapped around Erza's blade, completely stopping it. Natsu opened his visible eye and looked up at her.

"Well that was disappointing." Natsu stated in an emotionless monotone, making everyone's jaw drop to the floor.

Erza grit her teeth in frustration and tried to roundhouse kick him while the sand was still holding her sword. But when her leg got within two feet of him, more sand flowed out of the gourd and blocked it. Realizing it was futile to continue attacking, she backpedaled away from Natsu and requipped a halberd this time. Meanwhile, Natsu's sand just threw the sword at her feet.

"I don't need this." He said, still in the exact same stance as when they began.

Erza rushed at him once again, but with the halberd. _There's no way sand can stop a halberd. The sheer weight of it should be enough to break through the sand._ She thought as she pointed it towards him, and began charging again.

Natsu sighed and looked at her and extended his hand.

 **Sand Coffin!**

All of a sudden, a seemingly impossible amount of sand came out of the gourd and wrapped around her, lifting her into the air. _Impossible!_ She thought, _There's no way this much sand could be stored in that thing!_ similar thoughts were going threw everyone else's heads at the same time.

"It's over." Natsu stated. "From this position, I could crush you into the size of a tennis ball. There is no way for you to escape. Give up."

"NEVER!" Erza roared.

 **Requip: Giant Armour!**

Erza began to glow brilliantly as her new armour attached to her body. _This armour increases my strength tenfold, I can easily break out of this sand with it!_ As soon as the light faded, she appeared in her giant armour. She started trying to break free, expecting it to be easy. Her eyes widened when she couldn't even budge the sand at all. _How is this possible?!_

"Have you given up yet? This is beginning to bore me greatly." Natsu said in his monotonous voice.

Erza screamed back at him. "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP! NOT FOR A MILLION YEARS!" The crowd just stared at him in shock. Some random guy who had walked through their door only moments ago, was now beating one of their most prominent members, as if she was no more than a civilian.

"Very well, never let it be said I did not try the peaceful route." Natsu said. Suddenly, Natsu got into a wide stance, bending his knees. He stacked his balled up fists on top of each other, and put them about half a foot in front of his mouth. He took in a huge breath, and roared.

 **Fire Dragon's Roar!**

As soon as he called it out, an intense cyclone of fire shot out of his mouth, towards the sand encased Erza. Makarov's eyes widened at the name of his attack. _No way,_ he thought, _is this boy a true dragon slayer?_

At the last moment, Natsu's sand shot back into the gourd at breakneck speeds, leaving Erza out to dry as the fire raced towards her. Everyone watched in horror as the fire completely surrounded Erza for at least five seconds.

When the attack ended, Erza's body went limp, unconscious before she even hit the ground. The crowd was dead silent. To them, this scenario seemed impossible.

"No way, he beat Erza?"

"He didn't even try!"

"How is he so powerful..."

Makarov too was wide eyed, but he soon remembered his duties as the match referee.  
"Winner by knockout, Natsu of the Cobalt Sand!"

Natsu just closed his eyes and began to think. _She proclaims to be one of the guild's strongest mages, and yet she couldn't last more than two minutes against my weakest defense. Then again, I can tell she thought I was weak. So she was probably holding back... Maybe she has stronger armours?_

Natsu remained impassive and walked over to the downed form of Erza Scarlet. Reaching his right palm towards her, the sun icon on it started to glow brightly. When his palm finally touched her arm, all her burns and bruises began to fade away, and eventually she woke up. Everyone else just stared in amazement, Makarov in particular.

 _His combat abilities are extraordinary, but he can also heal? And by the looks of it his healing abilities aren't too shabby either. Just how many different kinds of magic can he perform?_ Makarov thought.

When Erza woke up, she began looking around frantically, before remembering what happened. Then she looked straight at him with a curious expression. "How did you do that? Your eyes were closed and yet you were still able to block me perfectly!" She asked.

"It's easier to just show you to be honest." He said.

Erza raised an eyebrow. "And how are you going to do that?" She asked.

"I'm going to close my eye, and turn around. Try and hit me however possible." He told her.

Erza looked at him skeptically. "...Ok then."

Natsu turned around and closed his eyes. "Alright, go."

Erza began trying to punch Natsu, but every time her fists got within two feet of him, sand would shoot out of the gourd and stop her, no matter how fast she punched.

"How do you do that?" She asked in amazement.

"Actually, It's not me doing it. The sand protects me of it's own will. This is how my father was never once touched during his missions. Nothing was ever fast enough to get past the sand." He explained.

 _That's a very powerful ability, probably even more dangerous if combined with that sword on his back. Although I wonder how many different kinds of magic he can use. I'll have to ask him later._ She thought. "Has anything ever been able to get past _your_ sand?" She asked.

"The only people to have ever gotten past it were shinobi, and they were my teachers. Even Igneel, a dragon, could not get past it. " Natsu explained.

Everyone looked at him, stunned. "You've fought a dragon?!" Makarov asked.

"It was only a spar." He explained.

This statement only further shocked the crowd. "HOW DID YOU GET A DRAGON TO SPAR WITH YOU?!" Makarov asked, now shouting.

"I lived with a dragon named Igneel for three years. He taught me dragon slayer magic, as I can see you have recognized." Natsu said.

 _He must be very strong if he was trained by a dragon for three years, I wond-_  
"Wait a minute, then why are you not still with Igneel?" Makarov asked.

Natsu tensed. "One day I woke up to find Igneel gone. I waited for quite a while, but Igneel never returned, so I left. Igneel was not the type of person to abandon his family, so I assume he was K.I.A." He explained, as he walked back inside.

He seemed calm about it while speaking, but he was inwardly cursing. _Damnit! I should never of told them that! What was I thinking?! Now they're going to keep trying to pull me into their 'family', which is something that can't happen._

Makarov looked downed sadly, while everyone else just looked confused. "Master, what does K.I.A mean?" Erza asked, unknowingly asking the question everyone else was dying to know the answer to.

Makarov sighed. "Erza, it means killed in action."

Everyone grew wide eyed for a moment, then also looked down sadly. Erza looked shocked for a moment, and then sprinted inside.

She looked around desperately for Natsu. _Where is he? He couldn't have gotten far... Maybe he's in the washroom? Unlikely. But then where could he hav-_

"I have selected three missions for us to complete. We should be back well before nightfall."

She whipped her head around to locate the cause of the voice. Looking to the right, she saw Natsu standing there with three papers in his hand, staring at her with his normal emotionless face. She looked down at her feet, choosing her next words very carefully.

"H-hey listen... I just want y-you to know that Fairy T-tail treats all it's members like f-family, so you don't have t-to be alone." She said, clearly very nervous.

Natsu just stared back at her. "Family is something I'm not meant to have."

"But-" She started.

"Now, we shall complete these requests as fast as possible. Clearing three bandit encampments shouldn't take longer than an hour." He stated.

Erza frowned, forgetting about what she was saying earlier. "I suppose, but the train rides combined will be at _least_ a few days."

"I don't know what a train is, but we're using my preferred method of travelling."

"Which is?..."

"Teleportation." He stated, grabbing her shoulder.

 **KAMUI!**


	9. CH-9: The enigma named Natsu

It was only about an hour after Natsu and his new red-headed companion had left to complete their job. Natsu thought it was just a simple spar, little did he know, however, that he had just left behind one hell of a shit storm back at the guild.

As soon as the fight ended, people practically ran each other over in an attempt to get to Makarov. Well, that _was_ after they had gotten over the initial shock of Erza being beaten as if she were no more than a minor annoyance. On top of that, the person who defeated her was a member of the guild for no less than twenty minutes, and two years younger than her! ninety percent of the guild couldn't even make her break a sweat, and even fewer could come close, let alone _beat her._ So when Erza got knocked out, it's safe to say that quite a few people had numerous amounts of questions for poor old Makarov.

Makarov got over his shock pretty quickly, as was to be expected by someone of his experience. After you live for over eighty years, you tend to stop judging people by age or appearance. His age couldn't stop his mind racing though.

 _That boy is no ordinary mage... To be able to control sand like that is beyond any sand mage I've ever heard of! On top of this, he also showed fire dragon slaying magic... very rare indeed. I assume he also has other abilities, as well as some swordsmanship, if that blade on his back is anything to go by._ Makarov thought to himself.

 _I still can't get over how he acts, however. It seems as if he has given up all hope in the world, and locked all of his emotions away. Normally, I'd be able to see_ _ **something**_ _in anybody's eyes, but all I can see is his eyes... eye... is a whole bunch of nothing!_

 _There's also the matter of these 'shinobi villages'. If what he says is true about them, I find it hard to believe we have never heard of such a place. Could he be from Edolas?..._

It was at this moment that the crowd finally reached Makarov. He sighed in annoyance at how many questions he was being asked, all at the same time. Most of them were repeat questions for god's sake!

"Master, what was that fire magic he was using?! It's like nothing I've ever seen!" Shouted Macao.

"I WANNA FIGHT HIM! SAND MAGIC VS SAND MAGIC!" Screamed Max.

"What else do you think he can do Master?" Asked Wakaba, and the majority of the other spectators.

Makarov closed his eyes and raised one hand, to get them to stop speaking. Clearing his throat, he began to address their questions one at a time.

"Macao, what you just saw there, was fire dragon slaying magic." Makarov answered.

Macao grew wide eyed. The others just sort of looked at Makarov with confused expressions. "But Master," Macao began, "how could he have learned dragon slayer magic?! It's a lost magic that nobody has learned for hundreds of years without a lacrima!"

Makarov sweat dropped and sighed. "Macao, do you not recall Natsu stating earlier that he lived with a dragon for three years, and was taught the magic by that dragon?"

Macao rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh yeah..." He said with a sheepish grin.

Everyone else was still confused, until someone decided to speak up. "Master, I don't get it. What the hell is dragon slayer magic?!"

Makarov took a deep breath, preparing to give a detailed explanation of dragon slaying magic. "Dragon slayer magic, is a lost magic known to very few. It was originally taught to people by dragons, although nobody knows why. The reason it is so special, is because it allows total invulnerability to the user's own element. In fact, it is rumored that dragon slayers are able to eat their own element to replenish strength, though this is still unconfirmed. The reason it is dubbed 'Dragon Slayer Magic', is because it is the only known magic to be able to harm a dragon. Natsu would most definetely be able to give a better description of it than I would, if you could get him to, that is..." Makarov explained thoroughly.

Makarov continued. "As to what else I think he can do... I have no idea. But given his display in the earlier fight, I would assume he can do more. Also, I'm fairly certain that he is a swordsman, given the large sword on his back. Probably a good swordsman, too, if it keeps up to the rest of his skills."

Everyone just nodded dumbly at his explanation, and started slowly trickling back inside the guild hall. After all, it's not like they knew what the hell that was, all they knew was this it's powerful. Powerful enough to knock out Erza, in fact.

AN HOUR LATER

Things had just settled down in the guild. People were back to their brawls, drinks, and more. Just when everyone thought it was fine though, two people thought it would be a great time to return to the guild, in a pretty flashy manner if I may add...

Everyone just stared in shock at the middle of their guild where space itself seemed to be warping. All of a sudden, two figures could be made out in the middle of the warp, one with red hair and armour, and the other with spiky pink hair and a headband. Most people calmed back down at this, but the more experienced members of the guild were confused even further.

 _Incredible!_ Makarov thought. _Space-time magic so advanced at this level! I must ask this boy where and by whom he was trained._

The warp slowly fizzled out, and Natsu walked out of it, Erza following behind him looking like she was lost in the woods. Natsu promptly strided over to Makarov.

He bowed his head. "Greetings, master. All three missions were completed efficiently, and without complications, we were paid in full." He told Makarov.

Makarov smiled. "Well done, my boy! Now go enjoy yourself, you sure do deserve it after doing three missions!" He said as he clapped Natsu on the back. Natsu nodded his head and walked towards the bar.

The whole guild was silent watching the exchange of words. They were once again stunned by their newest member because of his militaristic attitude and speech pattern. Why would an eight year old speak as if he had just returned from a job with the rune knights?

Makarov sighed as Natsu walked away. _Someone needs to lighten that boy up._ He thought. Scanning the rest of the room, he remembered Natsu's partner for the mission. He called Erza over to him. He raised an eyebrow and noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought about the new member. He decided he would ask about it when they talked.

"Master, I believe it would be better for us to speak privately." Erza said, looking at the floor nervously.

Makarov frowned at her strange behavior. "Very well, follow me.' He said as he led her towards his office. _What could the boy have done to cause Erza to act like this? She's usually very headstrong and stern, but right now she seems timid, and unsure of herself!_

Reaching the door to his office, he reached for the handle, and opened the door. The office itself was in fairly good condition. There were bookshelves, cabinets, and chairs along the walls, as well as a desk in the middle of the room with a swivel chair behind it.

Makarov walked over to his chair, and sat down. He motioned for Erza to grab one of the chairs. When she finally sat down in front of the desk, he looked her straight in the eyes and asked.

"So what happened?"

Erza squirmed nervously. "Well, you see, it's not about what actually happened, it's more about how he acted and what he said..."

Makarov narrowed his eyes. "Explain."

Erza sighed. "Well, the first thing that seemed strange to me was actually in the guild hall before we even left. It was after we had just finished sparring, and I heard his story about the dragon. I ran inside to try and make him feel more at home, and tell him that Fairy Tail was like a family. When I told him, though, he just gave me his weird blank face and told me that... family is something he's not meant to have..." She finished in a sad tone.

Makarov frowned. _Very strange indeed. I doubt this was just caused by his dragon disappearing though._ "I agree, that is indeed strange. Somehow we will need to convince him that family is something that everybody needs... Anyways, continue."

"All three missions were bandit clearing, so we decided to go see all three people who requested the jobs before clearing the bandits. Nothing interesting happened at this point, so I'm going to just tell you about our fights with the bandits."

Makarov nodded.

"When we got to the first camp, we hid in some trees nearby to assess the situation. Natsu seems to be extremely good at this. He was able to tell exactly how many bandits there were in the camp, and which ones were mages. I don't know how he was able to do this, as he didn't tell me."

Makarov was shocked. _So he's also a sensor eh? And a good one from what Erza's describing._

"After that, he told me to just stay there for a minute, so I did. If he told me what he was going to do though, I would've come with him."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, Natsu just ran up and jumped right in front of the camp. Then he put his palms together in front of him in some sort of hand sign. All of a sudden, an _impossible_ amount of sand came out of that container on his back and covered the entire camp. Nothing was visible underneath the sand."

Makarov was stunned into silence for a minute, then spoke. "Just how much sand are we talking about here, Erza?"

Erza took a deep breath before answering. "The amount of sand he pulled out must have been enough to bury the guild hall completely. And I'm not exaggerating one bit."

Makarov stroked his beard, deep in thought. "Do you think his container could be some sort of magical item?"

"It has to be, there's no possible way for something that size to contain that much sand normally."

"I agree. Anyways, continue on with the story."

"After he covered the camp with sand, he seemed to be thinking about something. About a minute later, he appeared to have come to a decision. He put both his hands on the ground, and yelled something that I couldn't hear since I was too far away. But when used whatever spell it was, it seemed like huge ripples of energy were going through the sand, although I have no idea what the spell actually did. As soon as he was done, he just appeared next to me somehow, and told me that the mission was completed. It's basically the same story for the other two camps."

Makarov frowned. "I'm going to call Natsu, stay here please." Makarov took a deep breath before yelling. "NATS-"

Natsu suddenly appeared in front of him. One knee was on the ground, as well as one fist. **(The position ANBU take when the hokage summons them)**  
"Yes, Master." Natsu said in his monotone.

Makarov took a second to get over his shock. "You don't need to kneel Natsu. Anyways, I just wanted to ask you about the job requests you just completed."

Natsu stood up. "What would you like to know?"

"Two things. First, how do you keep so much sand in the container on your back? Second, what were the two spells Erza saw you use on your jobs?" He asked. _Better not push him too far about this whole 'no family' thing._

 _Telling them the truth here won't hurt me at all, so I'd might as well._ Natsu thought. "The container on my back is called a gourd, a typical container for holding basic objects where I come from. It can hold such incredible amounts of sand because there are seals inside of it that connect it to a desert."

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "What are seals? A type of rune magic?" He asked.

Natsu pondered this for a moment. "No, however they are similar. As to the other question. The first spell is called **Quicksand Waterfall Flow**. It's purpose is to create large waves of sand, in order to 'drown' the opponent. It can cover large areas, making it very useful for mass destruction, or capturing a quick moving target. The second spell is called **Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral**. It creates waves of energy that run through the sand and compresses it, instantly crushing anything caught in the sand." Natsu explained.

 _It seems he has no qualms about killing people, leading me to believe he has done it in the past. I need to know where he grew up. I guess I'll ask once he gets better acquainted with the guild._

Makarov sighed. "Alright that's all, Natsu you may go. But please refrain from killing people in the future."

Natsu nodded. "Very well, Master." And silently walked out of the office.

Makarov turned to Erza. "You may also leave, I need to think over a few things."

GUILD HALL

Natsu and Erza got back into the guild hall just in time to see the doors burst wide open to reveal three silhouettes. Two of them appeared to be around the same height, and the third was at least a foot shorter.

When they stepped into the light of the guild hall, it was quite easy for Natsu to determine some of their personality traits just by looking at them. The shortest one wears a zip-up pink jacket that goes about half way down her thighs, she has an ear-length bowl cut, and pink slippers. She seems to be very cheerful, with a bright smile. _Like Naruto..._ he thinks. The one in the middle sports a very revealing tank-top, leaving her stomach exposed. Most of her hair is pulled back in a pony tail. She wears short-shorts, a belt with skulls, thigh high stockings, and has a sneer on her face. She looks like she's trying to intimidate everyone in the guild... and it's working. _Pathetic._ Natsu thinks, inwardly sneering. The last one is the only guy in the group, and for some seems timid, and unsure of himself. He wears a blue tuxedo with a red bowtie, and has short, messy hair. All three have ivory white hair, leading Natsu to believe that they are related somehow.

Natsu decided to ignore the new arrivals, and go back to the request board for a new job. Things don't always go planned, however. Just as he was about to reach the request board, the goth looking one decides to call him out.

"OI! WE'RE BACK LOSERS! HOW'D THE GUILD DO WITH ONL- Who the hell are you?!" She asks/yells at Natsu.

Natsu stops, and turns around to look at her. "I'm new." He simply says, turning back around.

The mystery girl gains a huge tick mark on her forehead and yells at him again. "OBVIOUSLY! WHAT'S YOUR NAME MORON?!"

Natsu doesn't even turn around this time, and keeps walking. "Don't you know it's rude to ask someone's name without giving your own first?" He asks, perfectly calm.

The guild didn't really know what to think at this point. Normally, they would've already warned the guy and tried to make him shut up, but then again, this was the guy who beat Erza without trying...

The girl gains a predatory smirk. "It seems you don't know who I am... Well maybe you've heard about DEMON MIRAJANE?!" She asked while laughing maniacally. This stopped abruptly, however, when Natsu gave his response.

"No, I haven't heard about 'Demon Mirajane'. But I assume your name is Mirajane. And believe me, you're no demon." He says, finally at the request board.

"WELL YOU'LL CERTAINLY KNOW WHY I'M CALLED DEMON MIRAJANE AFTER I WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOU!" She screamed at him.

"You want to fight me? Very well, I accept. However, if I am victorious, you are never to bother me with your 'demon' talk." Natsu said.

Mirajane smiled cruelly. "Let's head to the back then, eh?"

Now, Erza could of stopped this whole thing. She could've told Mirajane about how strong Natsu is. She could have warned her. But she didn't. Why? Well, two reasons. First of all, she wanted to see Mirajane get beat up, pretty good reason to be honest. Second reason, she wanted to see more of Natsu's abilities. _This is gonna be good._ She thought, smirking evilly.

THE TRAINING FIELD

Mirajane and Natsu stood opposite each other on the arena. Makarov wouldn't be taking bets this time around becuase he was still in his office. Erza, along with the rest of the guild watched in a big group, wondering if this newcomer could defeat two of the strongest mages in their guild one his first day. Erza just wanted to see Mirajane get beaten.

Natsu had come to the decision that he would reveal some of his true power this match. Hopefully even if Mirajane didn't honor their deal, she still wouldn't bother him if he spooked her good enough.

Natsu eyed her suspiciously. "You use Satan Soul Takeover Magic, correct?" He asked.

Mirajane looked shocked for a second before answering. "Yeah, I do. How did you know?"

"I can sense the demonic presence inside of you." He said, as if stating an obvious fact.

Mirajane just shrugged. "Never seen anyone who could do that, but I don't care. Still gonna kick your ass with it." Mirajane said as a magic circle appeared over her, transforming her into her demon form.

"Well why don't I show you a _real_ demon?"

Mirajane, Erza, and everyone in the crowd went dead silent at his statement. What did it even mean? Does he also use Satan Soul?

" _Ready to go, Shukaku? I'm givin you control for this one. Don't cause too much damage or kill anyone."_

" **Fiiiiiiine, I won't.** "

" _Have fun..._ "

Everyone watched in silence as Natsu began to transform into a fully sized Shukaku. Right there, on the middle of the field. Everybody's jaws hit the floor. Most people were paralyzed with fear from it's pure killing intent.

" **Hey brat, heard you were callin yourself a demon. Well it's me! The Almighty Shukaku! A** _ **real**_ **demon, might I add."** The giant tanuki said with a grin. " **Unlike that dumb idiot Kurama, that stupid fox can go chase a chakra pointer.** " He mumbled out afterwards.

Then everyone heard Natsu's voice in the background somehow. "Shukaku, they don't know who Kurama is."

" **Oh... right.** " Shukaku said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Everyone let out a collective sweat drop. _What a weird demon..._ They all thought.

Eventually, Mirajane came out of her shock. "LET'S FIGHT ALREADY!" She screamed at the tanuki. She raised her arms above her head, and purple energy started building into a ball in her hands.

 **SATANIC BLAST!**

She yelled, and fired the purple energy from her hand straight towards Shukaku at great speeds. Shukaku just raised an eyebrow at the spell and let it hit him. A huge purple pillar of magic covered the entire beast.

"Heh, some 'demon' that turned out to be." She said with a smirk. Which promptly disappeared when she heard said demon laughing.

" **HAHHAHAHAHA, THAT WAS TOO CUTE! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN! Pleeeeaaaaase?! THE BEST PART WAS WHEN YOU WENT ALL LIKE: SAAAATAAANIIIC! IT WAS SO CUTE! PLEASE DO IT AGAIN!** "

Mirajane huffed in embarrassment. The spectators just face faulted. Suddenly, the giant tanuki adopted a serious expression. It's star-shaped eyes looking straight at Mirajane.

" **Natsu I have a big problem here buddy.** " Everyone heard it say.

"What's the problem?"

" **I don't know how I can beat her without killing her.** "

"Oh. Yeah you're right I guess, wanna switch back?"

" **Fine, but next fight against an** _ **actual**_ **enemy I get to come out.** "

"Deal"

Everyone just looked at the big raccoon in confusion as it began to shrink back down into Natsu.

"Well, now you all have met Shukaku." He said, as if nothing important had happened.

Everyone sweat dropped. Mirajane just looked at him and yelled. "YOU SHOULD'VE KEPT THAT BIG GUY AROUND, BECAUSE NOW I'M GONNA WHOOP YOUR ASS!"

Natsu just extended an arm forward, and made the universal motion for: Bring it.

Mirajane let out a roar of frustration and charged at Natsu.

"I'LL FINISH THIS IN ONE PUNCH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHH!" She yelled as she ran straight at Natsu.

Erza winced as she watched the fight, it reminded her about how _their_ fight went down, ending in her brutal defeat.

The crowd watched in fascination as Natsu got into a strange low stance, and said in a calm voice.

 **ELEVEN TRIGRAMS: FOURTY-FOUR PALMS!**

Natsu suddenly exploded into action, jumping straight at the charging Mirajane with open palms.

"Eleven Palms!" He called out, hitting her eleven times in various points on her stomach.

"Twenty-two Palms!"

"Thirty-three Palms!"

"FOURTY-FOUR PALMS!" Taking one big step forward at the end of the barrage and hitting her with one final palm thrust in the middle of her chest.

Mirajane flew backwards, landing on her back. She groaned. _What the hell did he do to me? It's as if I can't use magic at all! And I can barely move!_

Natsu turned to the crowd and addressed their confusion.

"This fight is over. I have completely blocked her magical container, so she will be unable to utilize magic for the next few hours."

15 MINUTES LATER IN MAKAROV'S OFFICE

Makarov rubbed his temples. "So what you're saying is that Natsu transformed into a one hundred foot tall monster, took two of Mira's attacks as if they were nothing, and then shrunk back down, all before sealing her magic container with two finger punches."

Erza didn't blink. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Makarov sighed. _I'm too old for this shit._


	10. CH-10: Six Paths of Pain

TWO WEEKS LATER

Two weeks had passed since Natsu shook the guild to it's core with his arrival. Over the weeks, Natsu spoke little to anyone, and spent hardly any time in the guild. Didn't stop Mirajane from challenging him though. And she lost. Over, and over, and over again, until eventually, Natsu would just knock her out with a genjutsu before she even got the last half of her sentence out. While he was in the guild, however, all he seemed to do was get a drink of water from the bar, head over to the request board, pick up five of the highest paying jobs, and complete them as fast as possible. He has never, not even once, taken along another member of the guild on a job with him, apart from the required one with Erza. All this seemed to do however, is incite more curiosity within the guild about his capabilities. The kick starter seemed to be when he knocked Mirajane out with simple eye contact though.

Natsu, on the other hand, has absolutely zero interest in the guild's members. He tries to distance himself from them as much as possible, much to the guild's shock. He's still under the mindset that all his family died, and has little reason to change his philosophy. He still wears the exact same clothes as when he first joined the guild, and still nobody has seen his rinnegan. Most assumed that he just hides a scar under it, but a few of the more intelligent members have a few inklings as to what it might be. His sharingan, on the other hand, has been seen a few times by various members. Mainly Mirajane, for obvious reasons. They constantly ask him for an explanation as to what it is, but all they ever get in response is silence.

Though as of late, Natsu has beginning to worry that his six paths powers have gotten a little rusty. After all, he hasn't trained it since he left Igneel's den. So that's what he decided to do today, in case he ever needed it for a fight. He seriously doubted it though. He heard from multiple sources that Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in Fiore, and since two of their strongest members couldn't even hold their own against basic genjutsu or his _normal_ sand... Well, let's just say that using his six paths power would be like wearing an iron man suit against an ant.

IN A FOREST, A FEW MILES OUT FROM MAGNOLIA

Natsu walked out into the forest, finally determining that he was far enough away from civilization that nobody could find him. He couldn't help but remember his first day in Fiore when he heard the birds chirping happily, and the trees swaying in the wind. Finally, he stopped in front of a tree and unsealed his equipment. After his gourd was unsealed, along with his sword, he raised his arms. **Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!** With that, a huge, square portion of the forest was instantly disintegrated, and left him with an open field for training.

He took a deep breath of forest air and stepped forwards, pushing his headband up so that it didn't cover his rinnegan. Sighing contently to himself, he began to think. _Damn, feels good to have some decent depth perception. How the hell does Kakashi fight seriously with one eye covered?!_

Grumbling to himself, he extended his arms forward.

"First I gotta make sure that I can still use them properly." He muttered to himself.

 **DEMONIC STATUE CHAINS!**

Chains with a purple aura rushed from his arms, swaying around wildly and destroying neaby trees. Many people thought that these could only be used on bijuu. How wrong they were. These chains are good for way more than just sealing bijuu. In fact, they're as strong, if not stronger than the Uzumaki bloodline chains.

Next, Natsu made a few hand signs and slammed his hand onto the ground.

 **Summoning Jutsu!**

Six poofs of smoke appeared in a strait line in front of Natsu. Out of the smoke rose six distinct figures. Deidara, Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame, Juzo, and Nagato, all still with their Akatsuki robes and rogue shinobi head bands.

 _I think it's time I assign these guys their paths, I may need to use them in the near future... but I don't want people seeing the rinnegan. So I suppose I'll have them wear masks. Now, for their paths... I suppose Deidara should use the animal path, since he needs the backup for his explosives. Kakuzu can have the human path, his extended reach should give easy access to people's souls. Kisame would work best with the naraka path. He's the most durable, apart from Kakuzu, so he can revive the others. Sasori's path should be the asura path, since the multiple limbs and weapons would compliment his puppet body perfectly. The preta path would be best on Juzo. He's a melee fighter, so having an impervious defense to long range attacks would be ideal. Lastly, Nagato can use the deva path. As far as I know, he doesn't have any other techniques, and the deva path is strongest while used by itself._

With his deciding finished, he sprouted a black chakra receiver and jammed it into Nagato's corpse, and clasped his hands together. After a few seconds of silence and concentration, Nagato's eyes snapped open to reveal the rinnegan. He stood up, summoned five chakra receivers, and stabbed them into the remaining bodies underneath their Akatsuki robes. Finally, all six of the former terrorists began to rise, now being animated by the chakra receivers. Natsu decided that Nagato would be their pseudo-leader, much like Yahiko once was.

About fifteen minutes of intense brainstorming later, Natsu had a good grasp on what he wanted his path's masks to look like. He started blazing through thousands of hand signs, infusing his some of Shukaku's chakra into his wood style.

 _Damn,_ he thought, _this one jutsu alone is going to cost me half my chakra. And that's_ _ **with**_ _my increased reserves from Shukaku and Asura's chakra. But It'll be damn well worth it. These masks are going to be nigh indestructible._

After about thirty seconds straight of hand signs, Natsu slammed his hands onto the ground. From where his hands touched the ground, six pure black trees sprouted from the ground, each coming up to about his waist in height. The young sapling each suddenly sprouted a perfect oval shaped mask. The masks had no features on them, except for the two eye holes that were slanted slightly at the outer ends. And like the trees themselves, they were also pitch black.

When the base masks were completed, Natsu sat down in the lotus position, and clasped his hands together in the infinity seal. The ground began to shake slightly around him, and cracks started appearing in six places around where he sat. Suddenly, six different gemstones shot out of the ground and landed safely beside him. Looking down at what he had brought forth, Natsu smiled. Beside him, there were six perfect circles of different gemstones; Sapphire, ruby, amethyst, emerald, moonstone, and diamond.

From the gemstones, he used chakra-enhanced sand to cut them each into two rings. Smiling contently to himself, he set each pair of rings over a different mask, and fused them togeter with chakra, giving the masks a simple, yet elegant appearance. He gathered up the masks, and walked over to where his six paths were standing perfectly still. He handed them each a mask. Sapphire for Kisame, ruby for Sasori, amethyst for Juzo, emerald for Deidara, moonstone for Kakuzu, and diamond for Nagato. Each of the six paths put their mask on.

Natsu inwardly patted himself on the back. The Akatsuki robes, combined with the masks, made quite the appearance if he said so himself. And he was quite proud of himself for the whole mask thing, Even if it did take up half his chakra.

He used Kamui again on the six paths to store them in his pocket dimension. He couldn't seal them into a scroll, because then he wouldn't be able to summon them. But since the rinnegan summoning can reach across dimensions, his kamui dimension was a perfectly solution.

TWO HOURS LATER

After training his sharingan and rinnegan techniques, he acknowledged that they were finally back up to the level they were when he finished training with Madara and Hagoromo, if not even more powerful. But next up on Natsu's list was particle style. And while he may not have gotten rusty with it, he had thought of a way to implement it into a near impenetrable defense. I mean, why not add one more impervious defense to his list?

Getting into his usual particle style stance, he focused his chakra into the shape of a circular wall in front of him. He began speeding through hand signs, before putting his hands into the particle style position. **Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling: Barrier Jutsu!** He called out.

A transparent, white barrier appeared in front of Natsu for about three seconds before disappearing. Natsu marveled at the potential of his new jutsu. _It only remains in place for a short amount of time, but it's still incredibly useful. Even if you I used this back in the Elemental Nations, the amount of things that could get through this barrier you could count on one hand. Anyways, I can probably increase the amount of time the barrier is up through training, as well as reduce the required hand signs._

While he was on the topic of disintegration, he suddenly remembered something _very_ important. _Can the preta path even fully absorb magic attacks? I can't believe I've never tested something like this, I've been such a fool._ He started forming the necessary hand signs for a summoning, and slammed his hands on the ground. **Summoning Jutsu! Six Paths of Pain!**

This time, however, he only summoned Juzo, since he was Natsu's preta path. Juzo stood there with his mask and robe looking as attemptive as an elite soldier. Natsu mentally ordered him to walk thirty meters in front of Natsu, and face him. Once Juzo had complied, Natsu got into a wide stance, and took a deep breath. He stacked both his balled up fists on top of each other and put them in front of his mouth. **Fire Dragons's Roar!** He screamed as he let his attack loose.

The beam of fire shot towards Juzo at breakneck speeds, but all Juzo did was put his hand out towards the fire. Just as planned. The fire hit Juzo's hand, but seemed to shrink down and down until eventually there was nothing left but an ember. Juzo was completely unharmed and looking fine. _Success._ Natsu thought.

He used kamui to send Juzo back to his pocket dimension, and smiled to himself on his success. Juzo would be quite the handful to mages who could only use magic attacks. The only people Natsu could think of who could fight Juzo would be Erza and Mirajane, since he had seen them both use physical attacks.

Natsu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. _Hmm..._ he thought, _what to do next... Ah!_ Suddenly breaking out of his thoughts, he stepped forwards and looked up. He targeted one of the rocks in front of him, and started forming hand signs. A bead of sweat ran down his face from pure concentration. After about a minute, a rain drop shaped piece of glass appeared in front of him, and shot forwards at the rock. As soon as it made contact, the rock crumbled into small fragments, and the glass looked completely unharmed. Natsu willed the glass to dissipate. Smiling to himself proudly, he set to work on mastering his new jutsu.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Using the rest of his time for the new jutsu, Natsu completely mastered it through the use of shadow clones. He had five main jutsu derived from the style, which he now called Glass Style. These five jutsu were as follows. Glass Style: Soul Arrows, Glass Style: Soul Spear, Glass Style: Soul Stream, Glass Style: Glass Magic Weapon, and Glass Style: Dragon Breath. All of these jutsu could be performed by Natsu only using tora hand sign. Each of these techniques cost about as much chakra as a chidori, but since Natsu had the probably the most reserves on the planet, he could use them almost as much as he wanted.

He had also discovered another major thing during his training. Or rather, Shukaku did.

FLASHBACK

 _ **Glass Style: Souls Arrows!**_

 _Glass rain drops shot towards the targeted rock at insane speeds, but were inevitably going to miss. Natsu had been training all day with no breaks, and after using over ten thousand shadow clones, his aim was getting messy. The glass arrows were going slightly to the right of the rock, when all of a sudden they seemed to veer towards the rock, smashing into it, and subsequently destroying it._

 _Natsu blinked in shock. What the hell just happened? He thought. Why did my jutsu curve towards the target? Did I do that? Or is it some hidden property of the glass? He wondered._

 _"_ _ **Uh... Natsu.**_ _" He suddenly heard Shukaku speak._

 _"Yeah, what's up?"_

 _"_ _ **I think I know what happened. Make some glass as a mirror and look at your rinnegan.**_ _"_

 _Natsu did as Shukaku asked, and gasped in surprise. The normal nine tomoe that were in a triangle pattern had disappeared. What replaced them was a thick black ring around his pupil, covered by a cross, making it look like a sniper scope, except the cross went past the edges of the circle._

 _"What the hell is this, Shukaku?"_

 _"_ _ **I think you may have just awakened your rinnegan ability.**_ _"_

 _"What the hell is a rinnegan ability?! Six Paths Sensei never told me about something like this. Will it affect my rinnegan in any way?"_

 _"_ _ **HAHAHA. No, it won't affect your rinnegan, quite the opposite actually"**_ _Natsu raised an eyebrow._

 _"_ _ **You see, each rinnegan has a specific ability unique to each rinnegan. Only the person wielding that specific rinnegan may use that ability. For example, Madara could use his rinnegan to project four incredibly powerful clones into the invisible plane of Limbo, and Sasuke could switch places with any object within his vision. To be honest, Sasuke's ability fucking sucks compared to Madara's.**_ _"_

 _Natsu snorted. "I agree. Now, since you're telling me this, I assume that I have a rinnegan ability?"_

 _"_ _ **Yeah, ya do. I think it may have to do with your jutsu curving to hit the target. It most likely is some kind of targeting ability. And since the rinnegan is one of the most powerful things in the universe, I can only assume that this will basically make you never be able to miss.**_ _"_

 _Natsu's eyes widened, then he raised an eyebrow. "Never having to aim again sounds nice, but then I'd have to reveal my rinnegan, and since I couldn't be bothered to do that, I'll just manually aim for now."_

 _Shukaku was silent for a moment before bursting out. "_ _ **OH! OH! You should name your ability! Even Madara named his! although the name 'Limbo' is pretty unoriginal to be honest, but at least it had a name! Sasuke was probably too ashamed of his shitty ass ability that he didn't name it. Hehe.**_ _"_

 _Natsu thought good and hard for a whole two minutes before coming up with a suitable name. "It's gonna be called 'Deadeye'."_

 _"_ _ **Sounds good kid, I like it.**_ _"_

END OF FLASHBACK

Natsu maintained his slow pace through the forest back towards Magnolia town. He could have teleported there using his Kamui, but right now he just wanted to relax. He took in a deep breath of fresh air and sighed contentedly. Leaning his head back against his hands, he started thinking about his two weeks at the guild.

 _If anything, these past two weeks could be described as 'interesting', I suppose. The people there seemed very unaccustomed to how I act. Heh, if they were in the Elemental Nations, they would probably die from a heart attack before any enemy got to em. This 'Gildarts Clive' guy sounds fairly interesting though. From what they've told me, his magic is pretty much an imperfected version of particle style. I suppose when I finally meet him I'll see what all the fuss is about._

A glowing light on his back snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder to see what it was, and saw that his sword was glowing a brilliant white. Taking it off, Natsu inspected it closely to see what was happening. All of a sudden, the whole blade started morphing, right in Natsu's hands. The light got so bright that it blinded Natsu for a few seconds, and when the light died down, Natsu looked down to see what had become of his sword.

Well. What _used_ to be a sword. Now, it was completely different. Now, it was a double sided scythe. The handle in the middle was made of gnarled oak wood, about five feet in length. Both blades were made completely of metal, and extended out the back about two inches. They seemed to slightly glow blue, as if they were charged with magical energy.

Natsu gaped in shock. " _Any idea what the hell just happened, Shukaku?_ "

" **Nope, I'm about as confused as you are right now. But I gotta admit, it looks pretty sick, eh?** "

Natsu smirked. " _Yeah, it does... Definetly better than the blade form. And I think I have a theory as to why my sword changed into a dual-blade scythe._ "

" **Oh? And what is this great theory?** "

" _Well, after all this training, my fighting style has more defensive moves than offensive. So maybe the sword changed because scythes are easier to defend with._ " Natsu hypothesized.

" **Ok... I'll buy it. OH HEY! WHAT ARE YOU GOIN-** "

" _The Lifehunt Scythe. That's it's name now._ "

Shukaku smirked. " **Well don't you just know me so damn well.** "

" _I suppose I do..._ "

Natsu continued talking with Shukaku until they finally reached Magnolia town. When they got there though, it was as if they were at a whole new city. The whole place seemed a bit more cramped, as if somebody had pushed the buildings closer together. But that was minor in comparison to what was in the middle of town. There was a deep trench in the middle of town, leading straight from the edge of town to Fairy Tail's guild hall.

While he was walking through the streets, he began to hear people talking.

"Damn, this is such a bother. The last time was... I can't even remember now."

"It was like a month ago..."

"Oh... hehe... well, I guess it's not all bad. After all, Magnolia town is the only place in Fiore to do something this massive for one mage! The Gildarts Shift is truly a momentous event!"

 _The Gildarts Shift? Is this some sort of event the town puts on for Gildarts? Or is to protect themselves from him? After all, Makarov did say that Gildarts has a tendency to break anything he comes into contact with. I suppose I will find out once I get to the guild._

Natsu put slid his headband back over his rinnegan, but left his gourd and dual-blade scythe out. He had also remembered about the weights he was wearing all the way back from when Igneel trained him. He decided to keep them on though, it's not like he needed the extra speed or anything.

As he neared the guild hall, he heard faint shouts and sounds of a brawl going on inside. He looked up to the sky in exasperation and sighed. _Why did I even join his guild..._ he thought. He pushed the doors wide open and stepped into the room with his common emotionless face. Scanning the room with his one visible eye, he caught sight of a large man, probably in his fourties. He had shoulder length dark orange hair, and a black cloak.

"And I was just finishin the job whe- Oh, hello there, who are you?" Gildarts suddenly addressed Natsu in the middle of his sentence.

Natsu looked at him. "My name is Natsu."

"Well, hello Natsu. What are you doing at Fairy Tail?" Gildarts asked with a smile.

Natsu nodded towards him. "I'm new, I joined a little over two-"

"FIGHT ME NATSU! AND NO TRICKS THIS TIME!" Screamed an enraged Mirajane as she stomped over to him.

Natsu activated his basic, three tomoe sharingan and stared at her. She promptly fell to the floor with a thud, unconscious before she even hit the ground. Lisanna and Elfman groaned. "Must you do that every time, Natsu?" Asked an annoyed Lisanna. "We have to carry her back home every single time and it's becoming annoying."

"She asked to fight me. I beat her." Natsu stated.

Lisanna huffed and dragged Mirajane over to the table she and Elfman were sitting at. Gildarts just stared at Natsu in shock. _He just took out Mira with a glance. This is no ordinary kid._ Gildarts thought in surprise.

"As I was saying." Natsu continued as if nothing had happened. "I joined the guild a little over two weeks ago. Nice to meet you."

Gildarts eyed Natsu in suspicion. This kid was what, eight? And he was speaking as if he's a member of the council!

"Uh... yeah. Nice to meet you too." Gildarts said. Natsu nodded and walked off towards the bar.

"Oi! Natsu! What's with the nasty lookin scythe?!" Gray shouted at him across the room.

Natsu looked kept walking towards the bar and didn't even look at him. "This is the Lifehunt Scythe. It is my new weapon of choice." Natsu said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which, apart from the name, was indeed pretty fucking obvious. Dumb dumb gray...

"Then what the hell did you do with that sword?!" Gray shouted. But Natsu ignored him, now at the bar.

Across the room, Gildarts shifted his vision over to Makarov.

"Quite a strange kid, eh master?"

Makarov sighed. "Tell me about it. You should have seen the guild after he beat Erza."

Gildarts didn't react. After seeing how he defeated Mira, he just assumed he could've beaten Erza just as easily.

"In fact, he beat her with his eyes closed."

Now it was reaction time. "What?! How?! From what I saw, he uses some sort of eye magic to make his opponent fall asleep!"

Makarov shook his head. "He's only ever done that to her actually. Ever since he beat her in a one on one, she challenges him every time she sees him. Usually he would just turn her down, but eventually she became so persistent that he resorted to just knocking her out."

Gildarts raised an eyebrow. "Still doesn't answer my question though."

"He defeated Erza using some sort of sand magic. It was very strange though. At the beginning of the match, Erza rushed him while he had his eyes closed. However, when the sword was about to hit him, sand shot out of his gourd and stopped the blade. It was as if the sand were doing it on his own. Later though, we found out that it actually _does_ protect him on it's own."

"Care to explain what else he can do?" Gildarts asked with a raised eyebrow.

Makarov turned to the bar tender and ordered two more beers for both of them. "You'd better get comfy my friend, because I'm going to be talking for a while."

TWO HOURS LATER

"Wow. Just wow." Said a weary Gildarts.

"Yeah, he's pretty weird eh?"

"I agree. But I disagree with you about one thing."

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's that?"

"I'm going to go talk to him about his past."


	11. CH-11: Third time's a charm

Gildarts couldn't lie, Natsu was just about the most intimidating eight year old he had ever seen. There's just something about his eyes, yknow? Something that Gildarts couldn't put his finger on, but still unnerved him. Even though he was almost two feet taller than Natsu, he was glad Natsu was facing away from him while he walked to the bar.

Gildarts reached the bar, and sat down on the stool beside Natsu. He ordered his favorite beer, and took a sip. Slowly turning to Natsu, he took a deep breath.

"Hey kid, I want you to tell me about your time with Igneel."

Natsu turned towards him. "Why." He asked, completely deadpan.

Gildarts shrugged. _I don't need him to know what I'm gunning for quite yet._ "I dunno, never seen or heard about a dragon before. Sounds interesting."

Natsu sighed. _I don't want to piss off the entire guild, might as well talk._

Despite his weird antics, Shukaku could really tell that Natsu wanted to have a family again, he was just afraid of losing people close to him yet again. After all, who wouldn't? Losing family after family would be tough on anyone. But Shukaku hated seeing Natsu like this, and he knew Gaara would want Natsu to be happy, so he decided to give Natsu a little push to get him over the fence.

" **Kid, I don't know if you realize this, but it's pretty obvious that this guy is going to try and make you act friendly towards the rest of the guild.** "

" _I know, Shukaku. I don't know if I should though. Every other person who I've considered family has ended up either gone or dead._ "

Shukaku audibly sighed. " _Natsu, if there's one thing I learned from the idiot named Naruto, It's that family and friends are important. He believed that one truly becomes strong when they have something important to protect, and that you aren't really alive unless you have a caring family, and trustworthy friends._ "

Natsu cringed. " _But Shukaku, I don't know if I can handle losing more people I care about..._ "

" **I know it's hard kid. But you may as well give it a try. I mean, the way you're living now, you pretty much have nothing to lose...** "

Natsu inwardly smiled. " _I suppose you're right, Shukaku._ "

" **I also know for a fact that Gaara would have wanted you to live happily and make lots of friends. The last thing he would have wanted is for you to grow up like he did.** "

Natsu went wide eyed, a single tear rolling down his cheek. He dropped his glass and it shattered against the floor. The entire guild was silent. Did Natsu just show emotion? Everyone was stunned.

FLASHBACKS

He remembered his last moments with his parents...

 _Don't cry Natsu, we want you to be happy, and make lots of friends!_

 _Don't become shrouded in darkness as I was..._

He remembered his various teachers...

 _Have fun._

 _Try to make friends, don't walk alone as I did._

 _Put your trust in people, don't live your life alone._

And the last thing his parents ever spoke to him...

 _Always remember Natsu... We will love you always._

END FLASHBACKS

"Alright, I'll tell you." Natsu responded with a smile.

Half the guild passed out from shock. The people who were still standing were just gaping at him with their jaws on the floor, and eyes wide as dinner plates.

Gildarts looked at him with a raised eyebrow. _There's no way I did that all with one question. Maybe it was that demon Makarov told me he can transform into?_ Little did he know, Makarov was thinking roughly the same thing.

"Igneel was the king of fire dragons, his scales were a deep mahogany, and he had a lot of scars. He was pretty intimidating, but after I got to know him, he was actually really pleasant to be around, and kind." Natsu explained.

Gildarts looked shocked. Never did he expect a dragon to be _pleasant_ and _kind_.

"At first, I never expected for Igneel to let me stay with him for more than a day. But he actually ended up asking if I wanted to learn fire dragon slaying magic from him."

"Wait, he asked _you_?"

"Yeah, he did. It's not quite as strong or versatile as my other fire attacks, but it burns way hotter, I can control the temperature, and I can choose who it affects."

"You have other fire attacks?!" Gildarts asked in shock.

"Yeah, a lot more actually." Natsu replied with a shrug.

The entire guild face faulted.

Gildarts sighed. "Well damn, that's impressive kid. What do ya so about a friendly fight later?"

Everyone including Makarov stared at them with wide eyes. Gildarts actually thought this kid was good enough to fight him? Just what did he see in him?

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but before I become friends with everyone here I gotta do one thing first, and it's extremely important."

Gildarts and Makarov frowned. The rest of the guild gulped. "And what's that?"

Natsu turned towards Gray with a murderous glare, much like Erza. "First, I have to teach Gray not to interrupt people." He said with a creepily innocent smile.

Gray gulped. This kid could channel the powers of Erza with ease! He was really in for it.

The guild blinked. One moment Natsu was there, the next he was in front of Gray. Well, where Gray _was_. Currently Gray is knocked out in the center of a crater. Natsu just stood there looking like nothing happened.

Everyone burst out laughing at Gray's expense. Gray just lay there and groaned from Natsu's one punch K.O. Makarov smiled at Natsu's new behaviour towards the guild, as well as Gildarts. Natsu stood above Gray proudly smiling, and giving a good old thumbs up.

Erza blinked at Natsu's seemingly instant personality change. _To think, he changed from an emotionless killer to normal in less than five minutes. Gildarts must have done something truly magical... WAIT A MINUTE! Mira still doesn't know! Oh boy... this is gonna be good._

Natsu heard loud, clanking footsteps behind him, and turned around to see a smirking Erza walking towards him. Natsu flashed a cheeky smile and waved.

"Hi Erza!"

Erza smiled for a second, before returning to the previous smirk. "Well, I gotta admit Natsu, it's nice to hear you call me by my name instead of just 'Ms. Scarlet' all the time."

Natsu rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hehe... uh... sorry about that..." He mumbled out.

"Well, I know one way for you to make it up to me."

Natsu looked confused. "Alright..."

Erza smirked. "All you have to do is act like you were before when Mirajane wakes up, then, when she challenges you again, wait a few seconds, then burst out laughing. I guarantee she'll faint AGAIN!" Erza finished, cackling maniacally with an insane grin.

Natsu sweat dropped. "Uh... Ok. I guess I'll wake her up now then."

The entire guild was shocked at his words. They all yelled at him in unison. "YOU CAN WAKE HER UP WHENEVER YOU WANT?!"

Natsu deadpanned. "Well yeah, of course. It's my technique after all..."

Lisanna and Elfman started crying comically. "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT EARLIER?! BROTHER ELF AND I ALWAYS HAVE TO CARRY HER ALL THE WAY BACK TO OUR HOUSE!"

Natsu shrugged. "Meh, couldn't be bothered to honestly."

Elfman and Lisanna fainted.

Natsu grinned at Erza. "Time to wake her up!"

He walked over to the downed form of Mirajane. She was snoring loudly, completely down for the count. He flipped her over onto her back, and formed a half tiger hand sign. "Release!" he yelled.

Mirajane shot up, looking around frantically. "WHERE THE HELL IS THAT BASTARD!? AHA! THERE YOU ARE! FIGHT MEEEEE!"

Natsu stared at her blankly, his armed crossed as usual. This continued for about three seconds, before Natsu suddenly started howling in laughter.

"YOU WERE OUT LIKE A LIGHT! HAHAHAHAHAH!"

Mirajane's face flashed through various emotions. Anger, confusion, and eventually shock.

"Wha-wh-what?... A-am I dreaming?..." She managed to get out, before fainting again.

Now it was the guild's turn for laughing. They all rolled around on the floor, struggling to breath from the hilarity that had just occured in front of them. None more than Erza though. She was practically dying.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHA! D-did you s-see her face!? OH MY GOD! IT WAS HILARIOUS! HAHAHAHAHHA!" She managed to squeak out in between her fits of laughter.

Natsu put his hands on his hips and grinned. It was a grand success, mission accomplished.

THE NEXT DAY

The guild was chattering excitedly about Natsu's sudden transformation. Even Makarov, Gildarts, and Mirajane were talking about it. It just seemed to be the topic of the day. Or maybe the week?

ERZA's TABLE

"Hey Erza, think he's gonna finally show us what's under the headband now?" A shirtless Gray asked.

Erza rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know Gray, but he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to."

Gray, along with Cana, Lisanna, Elfman, Levy, Jet, Droy, and a reluctant Mirajane agreed with her.

WITH MACAO, WAKABA, MAKAROV, AND GILDARTS

"Master, do you think he's finally gonna show us some more of his magic now?" Macao and Wakaba asked.

Makarov shrugged. "I dunno, maybe you'll find out when he fights Gildarts over here."

Gildarts grinned. "I'm sure excited, never met another kid like 'im. It's definetly gonna be exciting."

They all grinned. "Indeed it will!" Makarov cheered.

Just then, the guild doors slammed open, revealing a short figure, only about five feet tall.

Makarov jumped straight in front of the newcomer. He flashed a bright smile and waved. "Hey there! The name's Makarov! Welcome to Fairy Tail! May I help you?"

The silhouette stepped forwards. It was a young girl, probably nine or ten years old. She had lime-green, waist length hair, and deep violet eyes. She wears a navy blue coat with gold trimmings and no sleeves. The coat splits open just below her breasts, revealing her stomach, and goes past her waist on her back in long twin tails. Below her waist is just a pair of jean short shorts, and simple black shoes. But the most prominent feature of her whole outfit was the white scarf with a scale pattern wrapped around her neck.

The girl grinned. "Hiya! The name's Aki! I wanna join your guild, gramps!"

Makarov face faulted at his nickname. "Right! You're in!" He said, before whipping the guild stamp out of his jacket pocket. "Where do ya want your stamp?"

Aki looked confused. "Stamp? Why do I need a stamp?"

Makarov chuckled. "You see, the stamp proves you're a member of the best guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail!"

Aki gained a look of realization. "Oh! Well then, I want it on my right shoulder please, in red!"

Makarov nodded, and gave her a red stamp on her right shoulder. Then he looked up at her. "What kind of magic do ya use?"

Aki grinned and gave him a thumbs up sign. "I use fire dragon slaying magic! Pretty cool huh?"

Makarov, along with the rest of the guild, gained a stunned expression, before Makarov suddenly spun around and let out of victorious whoop.

"THAT'S TWO NOW! WE'RE ON A ROLL PEOPLE!"

Aki looked confused. "Whaddya mean, 'two in a row'?"

Makarov grinned at her. "You see, our last recruit who joined about two weeks ago, is ALSO a dragon slayer!"

Aki was shocked for a second, then looked immensely excited and grinned. "WHERE IS SHE?! PLEASE TELL ME! MAYBE SHE KNOWS WHERE FLAMARIA IS!"

Makarov chuckled and tried to calm her down. "Actually, he's a guy, and his name is Natsu. He's not here right now though, I'm sure he'll come by soon, if you want to wait. Hey! I have an idea, why don't you go introduce yourself to the other kids your age! Make some friends! How bout it?"

Aki clenched both her fists in front of her in excitement. "OH YEAH! Let's go! Where are they?! I wanna meet em!"

Makarov grinned and pointed her towards Erza's table. Inwardly he was sighing of relief. _At least this one isn't cold._

BACK AT ERZA'S TABLE

"Well Gray, your cards read: Future, Happy, and Lov-"

"HIYA GUYS! THE NAME'S AKI! HOW YA DOIN?!" Aki greeted cheerfully.

Everyone smiled back at her, all thinking the same thing. _Talk about polar-opposite..._ Erza spoke up first. "Greetings, my name is Erza. Nice to meet you." Erza greeted.

Gray blushed a little but still spoke up. "H-hi, my name's Gray!" Aki narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey... where's your clothes, pervert?!" She yelled at him while pointing her finger at him comically.

Gray raised his fist in anger and yelled back, forgetting all about his little crush. "Who are ya callin a pervert, slanty-eyes!"

They butted heads, growing, and lightning shooting between their eyes. Until Erza had to pull them apart.

"That's ENOUGH! No fighting! We're friends now."

Both of them swiftly turned away from each other, crossing their arms. "Fine." They both said.

"Good, now let's continue!"

"Hey there, my name is Cana!"

Jet and Droy nodded towards her. "Jet", "Droy" they said.

Levy beamed at her. "Hi! My name's Levy! I like, books, books, books, and reading!"

Aki recoiled in horror. "OH NO! BOOKS?! MY WORST ENEMY!"

Levy hugged her knees in the corner comedically, a storm cloud over her head and poking the ground with a stick.

"Hi there! I'm Lisanna! This here is my brother Elfman! And that's Mirajane!" Elfman nodded at Lisanna's introduction, but Mirajane had something else to say.

"Hehe, I'm the demon, Mirajane! Wanna know wh-" She was about to finish, but a swirl in the middle of the room cut her off.

Out of the swirl stepped one Natsu of the Cobalt Sand, with three scrolls in hand. He waved at everyone and smiled, while walking over towards Erza's table.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Natsu asked, smiling at them. Then he saw the newcomer. "Oh! I don't think I've seen you before... What's your name?"

Aki gave him a thumbs up and grinned. "Name's Aki! What's your name buddy?"

Natsu grinned back. "I'll tell you in just a second, Aki, but first I got some gifts for a few people." He said, looking around at the people sitting around the table.

Everyone looked at him expectingly. Natsu laid his scrolls down on the table.

First, he handed one to Gray. "Here's the first one, for Gray." Gray took the scroll, and nodded in thanks.

"Second one, for Erza." He set the scroll down in front of her. "Thank you." She said.

"And the last one... for Mirajane." Everyone looked shocked. Why would he have a gift for Mirajane? He knocked her out on the daily!

Even Mirajane looked surprised. "Not that I'm not grateful... But why the hell are you giving something to me?" She asked.

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know... You three are the only people I know anything about to be honest."

The three people in question just shrugged and accepted his answer, while proceeding to open their scrolls.

Gray got his open first, and looked at Natsu with a questioning face. "Uh... Natsu? What is it supposed to do?"

Natsu slapped his forehead. "Right! I forgot! You guys don't know how to open sealing scrolls! Here, pass it to me, I'll open it for you."

Gray passed his scroll to Natsu, who promptly slammed his hand over the opened scroll and said: 'Release!'

A poof of smoke over the scroll revealed a clear orb, filled with icy mist. The orb had beautiful designs of dragons covering the surface. Gray peered at the object, clearly confused. "Not to sound ungrateful, Natsu, but what does it do?"

Natsu grinned. "Hehe. That's a dragon lacrima!" He exclaimed.

Everyone around the table was stunned, eyes wide. Gray stared at it. "A dragon lacrima? Why are you giving me one? Aren't they incredibly hard to come by?"

Natsu gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry about it, only took me about an hour to grab this one. Anyways, I'm giving you it so you can be a dragon slayer obviously."

They all stared at him in shock. "So you're saying this thing can make me a dragon slayer?!"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, all you gotta do is implant it, and then BAM! Instant ice dragon slayer."

Erza narrowed her eyes at him. "Isn't the procedure to implant it incredibly dangerous and painful?"

Natsu shook his head. "Normally it is, but with my healing techniques, It'll be a breeze! So don't worry about it!"

Everyone at the table went wide eyed. Gray nodded. "Thank you, Natsu."

Next, Natsu grabbed opened Erza's scroll. Once again, he placed his hand over the opened scroll and said 'Release!'. What appeared was a long greatsword. The whole thing looked like it was made of brass, but it was very intricately designed. There were detailed carvings all over it, and the blade part of it looked like two long strands of metal intertwined, so that there were holes all along the middle of the blade portion. It got narrower the farther away from the hilt you got, ending in a sharp point.

Erza grasped the sword and inspected it. "This is very masterfully crafted, with the strongest metals I have ever seen, where did you get this?"

Natsu grinned and scratched the back of his head. "I made it myself, actually."

Everyone's jaw dropped. Erza was the most shocked out of all of them. "How?! Even the most skillful blacksmiths I've come across would have some trouble making this, and where did you get the metals for it?!"

"Well, I got the metals by pulling them out of the ground with my magnet release, it's a pretty useful trick, ey?"

"But why? Why not just buy a sword from the nearest store?" Erza asked.

"Stores don't know how to make this kind of stuff, so I had to make it myself!"

"H-how?"

Natsu scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Actually, Shukaku helped me with a lot of the metal shaping. I mostly did the magical parts."

Erza nodded at his answer. "So does my blade have magical properties as well?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah! Push some magic into it!"

Erza held it out in one hand and put some magic into the sword. As soon as the magic entered the blade, it erupted in black and white flames. Erza's eyes widened, having never seen flames of this colour before.

"Why are the flames black and white? And how come the fire isn't setting the table or anything on fire?"

"The flames are black and white because I used a special kind of fire magic to make it. It doesn't set anything on fire because you can choose what you want the flames to burn. Another property of the special fire magic I used."

Erza nodded and put the blade into her requip dimension. "Thanks Natsu. I'll be sure to put the blade to good use."

Natsu grinned and gave her a cheeky thumbs up. "Sweet. Now Mirajane's."

He reached over to Mirajane's scroll and released the seal, revealing a tennis ball sized lacrima. On the glass surface, there was a picture of a nine tailed fox, and on the inside it looked like there was fire swirling around.

Natsu began explaining. "When I tried to think of something to give Mirajane, I honestly drew blank. I couldn't think of anything, so I asked Shukaku for advice."

Mirajane nodded, but still looked confused. "Alright, that's cool and all, but what does it do?"

Natsu grinned. "You see, where I come from, there are nine tailed-beasts, ranging from one to nine tails. They're some of the most powerful beings in existence. Shukaku is one of them."

Everyone was stunned by his explanation. "THAT CREEPY SAND DEMON!? JUST HOW POWERFUL IS HE?!" Mirajane shouted.

"Well, they could create earthquakes and tsunami's by just swishing their tails around, so pretty powerful, I'd say. But enough questions now! I need to explain what the lacrima does!"

Everyone nodded dumbly, still processing what Natsu told them.

"Shukaku used to be sealed in one human, along with the other eight. Since they were together for so long, Shukaku absorbed a little bit of each of the others energy. Basically, Shukaku sealed Kurama, the nine-tailed fox's energy inside that lacrima. If you implant it, it'll give you a new take-over... Kurama! The Nine-Tailed Fox! You won't be near as powerful as the original, but it'll still be enough to give any mage a run for their money." Natsu finished with a grin.

Everyone stared at the lacrima for a few seconds, still trying to comprehend what Natsu just told them. Eventually, Mirajane spoke up. "Thanks Natsu."

Natsu gave another thumbs up. "No problem. By the way if you want to stop getting knocked out by my eye, don't look at it."

Everyone face faulted at the explanation. Mirajane sighed in exasperation. "That's all I had to do?..." She muttered to herself.

All of a sudden, Natsu slapped a hand over his mouth. "OHMYGOSH! I forgot something." He said as he pulled out a fourth scroll. He set it down on the table and unsealed it. Out of a poof of smoke, there was a long coat with a hood. It was a dark blue and light red, with pictures of dragons all over. The most prominent feature, however, was the scale-like pattern that went over the entire thing.

Natsu handed it to Erza and grinned. "Pretty sweet, huh? Made it out of the scales that used to fall off Igneel when we fought. They're super light, and super tough at the same time. It's like wearing armour, but not wearing armour at the same time! It even has an enchantment on it so it will grow in size to always fit you!"

Aki looked at the coat, then down at her scarf. The scale pattern matched almost perfectly.

"HEY!" She shouted, pointing straight at Natsu. "YOU'RE NATSU!"

Natsu turned to her, completely deadpan. "Yeah, I am."

"DO YOU KNOW WHERE FLAMARIA IS?!"

Natsu scratched his chin. "Uh, sorry, don't know who Flamaria even is. That's a pretty cool name though, good luck finding her."

Aki slumped in defeat. "Flamaria's my mom! She's a big, scary dragon!"

Natus nodded. "Probably a fire dragon, yeah?"

Aki narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you..."

"The name. My dragon's name also referred to his element."

"What was your dragon's name?" She asked.

"Igneel, as I said earlier. You probably weren't paying attention though."

Aki's eyes widened. "WAIT. SO YOU'RE A FIRE DRAGON SLAYER?!"

Natsu shrugged. "Yeah."

Aki managed to get even more excited. She was practically jumping up and down. "CAN WE FIGHT?!" She yelled in his face.

Natsu deadpanned. "You do realize that we would just eat all of each other's attacks, right?"

Aki grinned and scratched the back of her head, clearly embarrassed. "Right..."

Suddenly, her eyes grew wide, and lit up. "I know! Why don't we just make a rule of no eating each other's flames!?"

Natsu scratched his chin. "Hmm... Yes, I suppose we could do that, but wouldn't that kinda be boring? I mean, all we would only be able to use melee attacks..."

But Aki was already grabbing him by the back of his shirt, comedically dragging him across the ground towards the back door. "NO WAY! IT'LL BE SUPER EXCITING!"

Everyone else in the room just blinked at the display. After a few seconds, people rushed the doors en masse, clearly extremely excited to see two dragon slayers duke it out. Macao grinned at Wakaba and Makarov. "Time to see what dragon slayers can do, eh?" he asked, while walking out the back door after the rest. Gildarts silently stood up and walked out behind Macao. Makarov and Wakaba just shrugged and followed suit.

Outside, it was complete chaos. People were rushing around everywhere trying to find a good spot to watch the coming action. Makarov stood on his classic stool, in his referee uniform. Natsu and Aki were facing each other, about twenty meters apart on the field.

Aki waved her hand and Natsu and yelled. "HEY! NO USING OTHER MAGIC, KAY?"

Natsu sighed, sealed his gourd and scythe, and yelled back. "FINE!"

Everyone in the crowd became even more excited, if that was even possible.

Makarov looked at both of them, before speaking and waving his flag around. "This will be a one versus one match! Natsu of the Cobalt Sand versus Aki... um... What's your last name?"

Aki sighed. "Dragneel."

Makarov nodded. "Natsu of the Cobalt Sand versus Aki Dragneel! This is a friendly fight! No maiming or killing will be tolerated! Begin!"

Before Makarov had even finished speaking, Aki got into a wide stance, balled up fists stacked on top of each other, in front of her mouth. **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** She shouted, releasing a huge torrent of orange flames at Natsu.

Natsu sighed and shook his head. _Idiot._ He thought. As soon as the flames reached him, he started sucking the fire into his mouth, inciting a lot of gasps and ooh's from the crowd. "Have you already forgotten that fire attacks won't work?"

Aki slapped her forehead. "DAMNIT! I forgot! No worries, here I come!" She slammed her fists together in front of her and charged. **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** Screamed a charging Aki.

Natsu calmly waited for her to come withing range, before grabbing both her fists, and throwing her up into the air. He promptly jumped up after her, and put his hand on her bare stomach, mid-air. **FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!** He yelled, and fire exploded outward from his palm, hitting Aki directly, shooting her at the ground insanely fast.

She hit the ground with a loud crash and a huge plume of dust. Natsu gracefully landed back on the ground, arms crossed, looking completely calm.

Aki shakily rose from the crater she made from slamming into the ground. She looked rough, covered in bruises and cuts, panting hard.

Makarov was awed. _Dragon slayers are rumored to be extremely resilient... To be able to do this much damage with one move... And it looks like he didn't even try!_

Erza, Mirajane, and Gray gaped. _That's insane! He didn't even try and he almost won the fight!_ They all thought roughly the same thing.

Aki stared at him. _How is he so powerful? His grip strike is so strong! And he stopped my iron fist by just catching it!_ "I'm not done yet!" She shouted, charging towards him head first. **FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!** She screamed, hitting him with an almighty head butt.

Natsu spread his arms wide, and bent his knees slightly. When she hit him, he slid back a few feet, before grabbing her shoulders and lifting her up. He stared at her with a menacing glare, giving her his best evil eye. "Surrender." He stated in a deep voice, channeling some of Shukaku's energy, making it sound slightly demonic.

For the first time since she first met Flamaria, Aki felt _true fear_. Looking into Natsu's one eye was like looking at death itself for her. Her lip trembled in fear. "I-I s-surr-ender." She squeaked out.

In the blink of an eye, Natsu's menacing expression changed to a bright smile. "Great!" He exclaimed.

Suddenly Aki felt a wam sensation spread throughout her body, and looked down. It was a miracle, all her injuries were just fading away, as if they were never there in the first place. She looked at him with wide eyes. "How?" She asked, completely bewildered.

Natsu gave her a goofy grin. "Magic..." He said mysteriously.

Makarov waved his flag around frantically. "The winner is Natsu of the Cobalt Sand!"

The dragon slayer duo walked back into the crowd, talking to various members and answering questions about their rare form of magic.

All of a sudden, they heard a mysterious voice coming out of the nearest tree. "So that's what you call yourself now, eh? Gaara would be proud."

Natsu's head whipped around and his eyes narrowed. "Who are you, and how do you know him?!" He growled.

They saw a shadowy figure stand up on one of the branches. The figure jumped down and landed in front of the crowd. Nobody had any idea who this guy was, he was a complete mystery. Then, some whispers began to circulate around the growing crowd.

"Look! His headband looks similar to Natsu!"

"But it has a different pattern on it..."

"Well yeah, obviously, but it can't be a coincidence!"

Natsu stared with wide eyes at the person.

"How are you here... Kakashi?"

 **I can tell you right now that Natsu is NOT going to be paired with Aki. Aki is only in the story because so much of the canon plot revolves around Natsu that him not being 'Natsu Dragneel' would pretty much break the story. As for Kakashi, well, I just thought it would be really fucking cool for Kakashi to be in the world of Fairy Tail. And he ain't gonna be weak, he's not called a genius for nothing, right?**

 **Chatper 12 has been removed for a rewrite... I wrote it in about thirty minutes when I wasn't thinking. Sorry.**


	12. CH-12: Kakashi the Copy Ninja!

**Sorry about the original chapter 12. I wrote it while I wasn't really thinking, so I removed it. By the way, if something like this happens again, check the end of the previous chapter for author notes.**

The fight between Aki Dragneel and Natsu of the Cobalt Sand has just ended. A mysterious figure shows up who seems to know Natsu, and begins conversing with him.

"Kakashi... How are you here?" Natsu asked, clearly in shock at seeing this new figure.

Kakashi chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head. "Hehe... Uh... funny story actually. You see, I heard about the rebellion in Suna, so I gathered by best ANBU squad and we ran there as fast as possible. When we arrived, I went to the Kazekage office as fast as possible, but as soon as I entered the room, I got caught up in some weird jutsu Gaara was performing, and I ended up here." Kakashi finished with a shrug.

Natsu sweat dropped at his explanation. Everyone else was just confused as hell. "Wait... So you've just been wandering around in Fiore for the past three years?" He inspected him further. "And why do you look so young?" He asked.

"I'll explain later. For now, we need to talk."

Natsu nodded at him and turned to the crowd. "I'll be back later, see ya!"

He turned back to Kakashi, and nodded. They both disappeared in a swirl of leaves and sand respectively, leaving behind a bewildered crowd of Fairy Tail members.

WITH KAKASHI AND NATSU

They arrived on top of a tall tree in the forest surrounding Magnolia, and sat down facing each other. Kakashi spoke first.

"So... I see you've taken my old look." Natsu nodded silently.

Kakashi continued. "What are you hiding under the headband?"

Natsu sighed. "First I'm gonna have to explain what I've been doing for the past three years, otherwise it won't make any sense."

Natsu went on to explain how he met Igneel, Hagoromo, Madara, and Mu, and what his new abilities are. He also told him about his newly invented glass style, and rinnegan ability. To say Kakashi was surprised would be an understatement, because he nearly fainted.

After Natsu was done, Kakashi looked at him skeptically. "So... to get this straight, you met a dragon, learned dragon slayer magic _from_ a dragon, had a god as a teacher, had the most powerful human as a teacher, gained two of the most powerful eyes on the planet, and learned a technique only counterable by itself. Oh, and the Shukaku got sealed into you."

Natsu nodded. Kakashi whistled appreciatively. "Damn... Well that's sure a hell of a lot more exciting then what I've been doing."

Natsu motioned for him to continue.

"When I first arrived, I had no idea what was going on, so I just wandered around for a few weeks, learning about the currency, laws, and magic. After a few weeks of... um... borrowing food, I started taking bounty jobs. They were pretty easy, especially with the raikiri."

At this Natsu stopped him. "I thought you could only use the raikiri when you had a sharingan?"

Kakashi eye smiled. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell ya." He said, as he opened his eyes, two kamui mangekyos spinning into existence.

Natsu gasped. "How? I thought your sharingan disappeared after the fight with Kaguya!"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know why, I think it may have been caused by Gaara's jutsu."

Natsu gave him a thumbs up and grinned. "That's awesome! I wonder what would happen if we combined our kamui onto one target..."

Kakashi waved him off. "Enough about that, let's continue. As I was saying, while I was taking bounty jobs, I began to see some useful kinds of magic, so I decided to try and learn a few. It went fairly well, I've mastered requip, crash, and dark ecriture so far. But that isn't even the most exciting part."

Natsu raised an eyebrow curiously.

"About a year ago, I was fighting a dark guild to complete a bounty on their leader. When I defeated him, I saw what he was working on, and it just happened to be two dragon lacrimas!"

Natsu went wide eyed. "Don't tell me..."

Kakashi laughed. "Yep, I'm a shadow and light dragon slayer!"

Natsu grinned and shook his head. "Damn it Kakashi, you got some shit done over three years." They were both silent for a moment, before Natsu blinked and asked Kakashi another question.

"Wait, you never told me why you look only a little older than me! And what's with the clothes?"

Kakashi was wearing green sweatpants that were tucked into bandages that started just below his knees, exactly like Mu. He also wore a navy blue overcoat that covered a fishnet muscle shirt. Of course, he still had his face mask, headband, and gravity defying, silver hair.  
"Well, I think it's just a side effect of Gaara's jutsu. I'm actually thirteen now."

Natsu whistled. "Well shit, that's cool."

Kakashi eye smiled and scratched the back of his head. "I guess you could say that... But what about this guild that you've gone and joined? What's it like?"

"Well... It's pretty fun, I guess. Everyone there is really weird, but they treat each other like family, and they value teamwork quite a bit."

Kakashi nodded. "Well, I might just see about joining up. Oh, and by the way, you should keep my whole de-aging thing hush hush. It'll just incite more curiosity about our world, which is something we definitely don't want."

Natsu agreed, and they decided to head back to the guild to get Kakashi his guild mark. Before that though, Natsu had something else to say. "Kakashi, how many jewels do you have so far?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin, thinking. "Well, I keep all my things in my kamui dimension, but I think I have around ten million."

Natsu whistled. "Wow... That's enough to get the nicest apartments in Magnolia!"

THE GUILD HALL

Once again, Natsu had managed to cause an hour of chaos in the guild hall. People were chattering excitedly about the new arrival, wondering what kind of magic he used, and how Natsu knew him. Had Natsu told him about what's under his headband? And why did Natsu seem so surprised to see him?

Suddenly, two swirls in the middle of the room interrupted everyone's conversation. They all turned to the cause of commotion. Out of the swirls, appeared Natsu and Kakashi, causing them all to gasp, thinking that Natsu was the only person with the weird teleporting ability.

Everyone was silent, until Natsu decided to speak up. "Hey guys, this is Kakashi Hatake, he wants to join the guild!"

Kakashi eye smiled. "Yo!" He said, lazily holding up a peace sign.

They all cheered at getting a new member. Makarov grinned and jumped in front of Kakashi.

Kakashi stared down at the strange little man in front of him. _Reminds me of Lord Third..._

Makarov held up a little stamp. "Where do you want your guild stamp, young man?"

Kakashi eye smiled at him and pointed to his headband. "Over top of the old symbol please, in black."

Makarov complied, and stamped the headband in black, covering the Konoha symbol that used to be there.

Makarov turned to the guild. "LET'S PARTY! BRING OUT THE BOOOOOOZE!" Everyone started yelling and running around, grabbing drinks.

Kakashi sweat dropped and scratched the side of his head, confused. "Uhh... Natsu?"

Natsu laughed. "Yeah, this is normal. C'mon, let me introduce you to the others." He said, leading him towards Erza's table.

"Hey guys, this is Kakashi! He's a good friend of mine." Natsu introduced him.

Kakashi once again held up a peace sign. "Yo." He said.

Aki couldn't contain her excitement any longer. She jumped up and got right in his face. "WHAT MAGIC DO YOU USE? AND WHAT'S UNDER THE MASK?"

Kakashi blinked once, and cleaned out his ear. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

Everyone sweat dropped at Kakashi's response.

Erza decided to rephrase the question a little better. "Excuse me for our friend here, my name is Erza Scarlet. If we may so ask, what kind of magic do you use?" She asked.

Kakashi looked at her for a second, then eye smiled. "Hello there, Erza, nice to meet you. I use Dark Ecriture, Crash, two types of Dragon Slayer magic, and my personal favourite-"

He couldn't continue, because various people had rather explosive reactions to his kinds of magic.

Makarov and Gildarts somehow heard him from across the room and immediately ran over to him.

Gildarts was first to speak. "You know Crash magic?! How?!"

Makarov was next. " _Two_ kinds of Dragon Slayer magic? Which two? and How?"

Erza and Gray followed up. "Dark Ecriture? I thought only Freed could use that! Don't you need some sort of special eye?"

Makarov once again asked a question, bringing up the rear. "How did you master so many magics at your age?!"

Kakashi sighed. "In order, I know crash magic from a book I found. I know shadow dragon slayer magic and white dragon slayer magic, from two lacrima I found while I was raiding a dark guild. As for dark ecriture, you actually develop the eye while you learn it. I mastered them all over my past three years, actually, I didn't need my full thirteen years."

They all just stared at him, completely stunned into silence. They all just stared at him. "H-how?" They all said.

Natsu laughed and decided to do some explaining. "You see, there are five ranks where we come from, Genin, Chuunin, Jonin, Anbu, and Kage. Jonin rank would be the closest comparison to S-Class, but I'd say that most jonin would beat S-Class mages. Kakashi here was known as a genius and prodigy. He became a genin at five, chuunin at six, and jonin at ten."

Kakashi eye smiled and nodded. Everyone else just stared at him. _This kid..._ Makarov and Gildarts thought. _He must be extremely strong... I wonder what his favourite magic is though. He didn't get to it before we cut him off._ The kids at Erza's table thought.

Kakashi continued. "As I was saying... I use those four magics, but my personal favourite is requip!" He said, eye smiling.

Everyone face faulted. He had so many powerful magic abilities... And yet his favourite was the ability to switch between weapons? What?...

"How can requip be your favourite kind of magic? I mean, you have all these powerful kinds of magic... surely they must be more useful?" Gray asked, causing Erza to glare at him.

Kakashi shook his head. "Not really... Many times in the past, the ability to switch weapons instantly, throw knives, or change into armour has been more useful than all my other magic abilities."

Erza stared at him. "You can requip armour? And how fast?"

Kakashi scratched his head, confused. "Well... yeah, I can requip armour. And I'm pretty fast I think, though I've never had anyone to compare myself to."

Erza smirked. "How about a little competition?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's this competition about?"

"We'll both requip throwing knives as fast as possible and throw them at the pillar over there. Whoever is first wins." She said.

"Seems fun I suppose." Said Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded, and got into a throwing stance, as did Erza. By now, the entire guild was watching the exchange, excited to see Natsu's friend in action.

Erza got into a throwing stance, bent knees, one arm pulled back, and eyes set on the pillar. Kakashi on the other hand, looked completely chill. He just stood there with his arms by his sides.

Makarov was the referee. "Three! Two! One! GO!"

Milliseconds after Makarov said go, Kakashi's arm shot up in an underarm throwing motions without a kunai even in hand, confusing most of the crowd. But when his arm was almost straight, a dagger seemed to just blink into existence in his hand, and was immediately launched forward, burying itself into the pillar up to the handle.

Erza stared at him. _To be able to requip that fast... How? I've been requiping for years and I'm not even close to that speed. And yet he only had three years to perfect three different kinds of magic!_

Kakashi eye smiled. 'I believe I win." He said. Erza blinked, and Makarov blew his whistle, causing the rest of the guild to go back to their previous activities. Makarov hopped back over to the bar, and settled down for another beer.

Erza walked over to Kakashi. "How... do you requip that fast?" She asked.

Kakashi looked at her and shrugged. "Good... concentration?... " He responded.

Erza sweat dropped. "Back to the drawing board..." She sighed.

Suddenly, she perked up again. "Say, Kakashi, do you want to go on your first mission with me? Natsu went on his first with me." _Even if I was completely useless..._ She thought.

Kakashi tilted his head and looked at Natsu, who shrugged. "It's a guild requirement, your first mission has to be with someone else." He said.

Kakashi sighed, causing Erza to become annoyed. _Both of them only like doing missions solo? Why?_ She thought.

All of a sudden Kakashi opened his eyes as if he had a great idea. "Hey, what's the quickest possible mission we can do?"

Erza rubbed her chin, confused. "Uh... probably the cat retrieval... After that it's most likely the bandit clearing job."

Kakashi's eyes widened in horror. "NO! ANYTHING BUT RETRIEVING CATS! LOOKS LIKE WE'RE OFF TO CLEAR SOME BANDITS, BYE GUYS!" He burst out, dragging a confused Erza behind him.

Everyone else, including Natsu, just stared at the spot Kakashi was standing a minute earlier, clearly confused.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

A swirl appeared in the middle of the guild hall, revealing Kakashi and Erza. By now, the guild had gotten used to this, since Natsu did it on the daily. Makarov smiled at them. "Hiya guys! How did the job go?"

Kakashi nodded at him. "It was completed efficiently, and without difficulties, we were payed in full." Kakashi stated.

Makarov sighed. _This one talks like a soldier as well..._ But ultimately, he shrugged it off. "Good job!"

Kakashi nodded and turned around only to be looking straight at Gildarts.

"Hey kid, how do you control your crash magic so well? I have trouble just not destroying everything I touch..." Gildarts said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Kakashi shrugged yet again. "Concentration?..."

Everyone face faulted. "Same... answer... as last time?" They all croaked out.

Gildarts was up first, and smirked at him. "Alright kid... fight me." Everyone gasped. Gildarts challenged _both_ the newbies?

Kakashi looked at him blankly. "Hmm? Did you say something?"


	13. CH-13: Team Ghost

Ever since Kakashi joined the guild, which was about an hour ago, the members of Fairy Tail have redoubled their efforts to find out what Natsu and Kakashi's red eye/eyes did. But all they ever got when they asked about it was either "Hmm... Did you say something?" or "It's a cool looking eye." Needless to say, it frustrated them to no end.

All they even know about it so far, is that it can render you unconscious should you look at it, which is a powerful ability alone, but who knows what else it could do, right? If only they knew...

Even Makarov and Gildarts had absolutely zero idea what the hell it was, apart from what everyone else knew. Makarov simply didn't care, but Gildarts was more of the curious type, and he had the perfect idea on how to find out.

He smiled inwardly and walked over to Kakashi. "Alright kid... fight me." He said.

Kakashi stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

The entire guild face faulted at Kakashi's obliviousness.

Gildarts sighed. "Yes... I did say something. I want to fight you, but you're only allowed to use your eye techniques."

It was the perfect strategy, in Gildarts opinion. If Kakashi's eye could do enough to be used in a fight by itself, then it worked out fine. If it didn't, he would still be getting information, and he would just let him use another kind of magic. Pure Genius!

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Ehh... Fine." He said, closing the strange, orange book he had been reading.

Everyone was glad to finally be able to see the eye in action, other than knocking out Mirajane, so they were all smiles. That is, until Natsu burst out laughing and stared at Gildarts.

"Y-you just m-made the worst mistake o-of your life! HAHAHA!" He stuttered out between explosive fits of laughter. This caused GIldarst to gulp worriedly, and the rest of the guild to look at him in confusion.

"Oh, and by the way." He continued. "You may want to have the fight in a bigger arena than that training ground."

Makarov looked at him wearily, before nodding.

Natsu continued. "We can do it in Magnolia forest, I've used it to train before, and none of the citizens have noticed."

Makarov frowned. "But we don't have anywhere to watch around there."

Natsu shrugged it off. "Don't worry, I'll make some stands." He said, teleporting away in a swirl, as did Kakashi.

Makarov shrugged and hopped off the bar stool he was currently sitting on. He landed in front of the doors, and faced the guild. Everyone watched him attentively.

"Alright folks, listen up. Those who want to watch Natsu's fight, come here, those wh-" He couldn't finish his sentence, mainly due to the fact that the entire guild rushed him at once. Makarov grinned after he was done being run over. _This is definitely going to be interesting._ He thought.

They were about to leave, when another swirl appeared behind them, and Kakashi stepped out with his hands in his coat pockets, looking bored as all hell.

He looked at them, clearly confused. "Where are you all going?"

Now it was the guild's turn to be confused. "To Magnolia Forest, where else?"

Kakashi sighed. "And how do you expect to find the arena by yourselves?"

Everyone in the crowd gave him a sheepish grin. "Uhm..."

Kakashi eye smiled and motioned them to follow him. "Don't worry, I'll lead you there, it's not too far away. Just enough that the town's people won't notice." He said as he walked out the guild doors. The members just shrugged and followed him out the door.

In Magnolia, people were looking at the odd group of people, well, oddly. I mean, it's not every day you see a thirteen year old reading a book leading the most powerful guild in Fiore. The guild didn't seem to notice, however. They were to busy whispering excitedly among themselves about the oncoming fight. Makarov and Gildarts walked at the back of the group, while Gray, Erza, Aki, and the Strauss siblings were leading the pack behind Kakashi.

Erza eyed the book in Kakashi's hand suspiciously and caught up to him, walking alongside him.

"What are you reading, Kakashi?" She asked.

Kakashi kept reading for a few seconds, before looking at her with a blank stare, blinking a few times before responding. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

Erza sighed in frustration and leaned over to him, trying to get a better look at what he was reading.

"He leaned over the towering wall, desperately trying to peer through-" She kept reading for a few moments, then her eyes widened, and hissed at him. "HEY! What the hell is this?! Why are you reading it in public, you fiend?!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Is there a reason I can't?" He asked.

Erza huffed furiously and glared at him. "You know perfectly well why you can't! And that material is too mature for your age!" She told him, sounding like a fourty year old mother.

Kakashi sighed. "You're younger than me." He pointed out, before leaning into her ear. "And I isn't that a little... hypocritical, Erza?" He whispered.

Erza went as red as her hair, and almost tripped and fell in surprise. "Wh-what? N-no! What a-are you talking a-about?" She stuttered out.

Kakashi laughed and shook his head, returning to his book. "Classic..." He muttered to himself. _If only Jiraiya were here..._ he thought sadly.

Erza dropped back to where Gray and the Strauss siblings were walking. She tried to act like nothing had happened, but failed miserably, as she was still blushing furiously. Mirajane smirked and turned on her.

"Well you're looking awfuly flustered, fatty. Something interesting happen?" Mirajane teased.

Erza glared at her, and huffed. "We will not talk about this matter!" She stated, and turned away, ignoring her. Mirajane just snickered, but the others were too scared of Erza to even make a noise.

NEAR THE FOREST ARENA

People began to get excited when Kakashi called out that they were almost there. Gildarts stretched his arms a bit and had a determined look on his face, causing Makarov to laugh. Kakashi on the other hand, just kept reading his precious book, completely ignoring everyone in the crowd. Gray and the others finally managed to summon the courage to speak to Erza.

"Say, Erza, what do you think those eyes can do?" Gray asked, still rather nervous.

Erza tilted her head and rubbed her chin, thinking. "Hmm... I'd say more than just knocking people unconscious. If that's all it could do, Kakashi would never of agreed to only use eye techniques."

Gray nodded, accepting her reasonable answer.

This time Lisanna piped up with a question. "Do you think Kakashi's will be more powerful than Natsu's eye? I mean, Natsu only uses one, and Kakashi uses two!"

Erza nodded. "I suppose so, but there's no way to know unless they tell us themselves."

Kakashi heard all this and smirked, shaking his head. _If only they knew what was under that head band..._ He thought. But if Natsu didn't want them to know about the rinnegan, then it wasn't his business to tell them, although he did see Natsu's logic. _I wouldn't want to draw attention to myself either, but it seems I already have..._ He thought bitterly.

Shaking his head of the thoughts, he kept leading the group until they finally reached the arena.

The arena itself was massive, at least the size of a fifty meter pool, and that bleachers that surrounded it fit the scale just fine. The entire thing was made of oak wood, but still looked perfectly stable.

As soon as the guild saw it, they rushed into the stands, trying to find ideal seating to watch the impending fight. Makarov went to look for Natsu, figuring that Natsu would have a good place to sit, since he supposedly built it hiimself.

Turns out Makarov was right, and he found Natsu sitting a viewers box above on the of the bleachers. He jumped up right beside Natsu to watch the fight.

"So, you built this thing?" Makarov asked, raising an eyebrow at Natsu.

"Yeah, pretty good, huh?" He responded.

Makarov nodded. "Indeed, although if I may ask, how did you build it in such a short amount of time?"

Natsu smirked and made a shh motion. "Shh... Trade secret."

Makarov sighed in annoyance, but nodded none the less. "Fine."

Natsu was quiet for a few moments, before speaking up again. "Wait a minute, don't you have to do your whole referee thing?" He asked.

Makarov shrugged and shook his head. "Didn't feel like doing it this time, so I let Erza do it."

Natsu shrugged and accepted his answer.

Down on the field, it was dead quiet. The crowd had completely stopped talking, anticipating the fight before them. Kakashi and Gildarts stood on opposite sides of the field, with Erza on the side near the middle, in a referee outfit.

She raised a black and white flag. "The fight between Kakashi and Gildarts will now commence! No maiming or killing! GO!" She yelled, bringing the flag down.

When she said the word, people thought the combatants would rush at each other. But to their disappointment, both of them stood still as statues, analyzing their opponent.

After about ten seconds, the crowd gasped in awe as Kakashi's mangekyo sharingan spun into existence in his eyes. Gildarts got into a ready position, to be prepared for whatever Kakashi prepared for him. But unfortunately for Gildarts, Kakashi was an opponent like no other.

Almost as soon as Kakashi's eyes activated, Gildarts' eyes widened when he seemingly burst into chirping song birds. The birds flew straight towards him, and swarmed him, obscuring his vision greatly. He looked around frantically, trying to peer through birds and see his opponent, but to no avail. Then he tried hitting the birds and using crash magic to send them off, but it still didn't work.

To the crowd, it looked very confusing. When Kakashi's eyes activated, they saw him look into Gildarts eyes, then run towards him. They looked at Gildarts, to see what he would do to defend against Kakashi, but all they saw him doing was looking around frantically at nothing, clawing at the air, and shooting off random waves of crash magic.

Makarov narrowed his eyes. _Must be some kind of illusion magic. Quite powerful, too, if it was able to ensare Gildarts._ He thought.

Natsu on the other hand just laughed inwardly. Anyone who didn't live under a rock in the Elemental Nations knew about Itachi's 'signature' genjutsu. And it seems Kakashi took some inspiration, and from more than one place as it appears.

Back down on the ground, Kakashi was only meters away from Gildarts, with his fist raised back. _He's still in my genjutsu, but if he shoots a wave of crash that's too powerful it could release him. Either way, I'll need to coat my fists in chakra to keep up with his crash enhanced punches._ Kakashi thought.

But he was snapped out of his thoughts by the sight of Gildart's mighty fist racing towards his face, which was currently unprotected, due to the fact that his fist was currently raised back to ready a punch.

Kakashi smirked at Gildarts' look of premature victory, and flared his mangekyo. The guild looked on in confusion, as it looked like Kakashi was doing nothing to defend himself against Gildarts.

Then, as if he was a ghost, he jumped _through_ Gildarts, slipping right through him as if he wasn't even there. Gildarts was off balance and in shock, so as soon as Kakashi was behind him, he released his chakra punch on Gildart's back and sent him flying forwards.

Gildarts stood up, and peered at Kakashi suspiciously. _Could it be a thought projection?!... No! That's impossible! Then what the hell is going on..._ " He thought.

Makarov was also stunned into silence. _That cannot be a thought projection, since he hit Gildarts. But then what kind of technique is that? It was as if he was a ghost, and then normal again..._

Similar thoughts ran through the heads of the rest of the guild members currently sitting in the stands, or on the ref's stool.

This time, Gildarts charged Kakashi without looking into his eyes, and engaged him in close combat. Kakashi's sharingan eyes flicked around madly, anticipating Gildarts' each and every move, letting Kakashi dodge easily, as if the punches were in slow motion. To the crowd though, it looked as if the Kakashi was dodging the barrage of kicks and punches at lightning speed.

Following the little hand to hand exchange, Kakashi jumped backwards, and stared at Gildarts with his Mangekyo, pushing chakra to his eyes.

While Kakashi was doing this, Gildarts also jumped back, and picked up a piece of rubble, much to the confusion of the spectators.

All of a sudden, a swirl appeared in front of the Kakashi's eyes, and multiple, massive shurikens poured out, flying straight at Gildarts.

Gildarts threw the pebble at Kakashi, who was still shooting giant shuriken out of his eyes. Gildarts saw the pebble hit Kakashi, and smirked as his theory was confirmed, before shooting a huge wave of crash magic to destroy the shuriken pointed at him.

When the smoke cleared, Gildarts pointed a triumphant finger at Kakashi, and declared loudly. "Aha! I've found the weakness in your magic! You cannot be ghost-like and attack at the same time! Am I correct?"

Kakashi eye smiled. "Very astute of you, Gildarts." He said, nodding.

Gildarts raised a fist in victory. "YEAH! Now let's get the real fight started!" He declared, flaring his magic power, causing the ground to shake. The Fairy Tail members' eyes widened in shock, having never seen Gildarts go so far.

Said crash mage shot towards Kakashi at blinding speeds, appearing in front the silver-haired shinobi in the blink of an eye. Gildarts threw a clumsy punch towards Kakashi, but it still looked as fast as ever to the spectators.

 _He's trying to get me to attack, then he's going to shoot crash magic at me. It's all too obvious really, but this is boring. I'll just humor him for a bit I suppose._ Kakashi thought.

Kakashi's prediction basically became reality. As soon as Kakashi phased through Gildarts punch, he jumped into the air, and activated his Kamui to send more shuriken at Gildarts. Gildarts smirked, thinking his plan had worked, and used a huge amount of magic power to send a massive wave of crash magic at Kakashi.

The wave appeared to hit, as a huge plume of dust appeared around Kakashi as it reached him. Gildarts frowned, thinking he had gone too far.

Then, the dust cleared, and everyone gasped in amazement. Around Kakashi looked like a blue skeleton, grinning maniacally, with Kakashi kept safely inside. Gildart's crash wave hadn't even put a scratch in it.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Well... this was pretty fun I guess..." He said.

As soon as the words were said, the skeleton's fist rocketed towards Gildarts, and pounded him into the floor before he could even react, creating a huge cloud of dust. Everyone was stunned at the destructive power of the skeleton.

 _That's crazy! That weird skeleton was able to put Gildarts into the floor with a punch!_ Thought Gray, Lisanna, and Elfman.

 _He is definetely someone I won't want to cross._ Thought a nervous Erza, Mirajane, Macao, and Wakaba.

 _Certainly a different sort of ability than the ghost-mode. But still... to be able to stop Gildarts with a skeleton..._ Thought Makarov.

When the dust cloud cleared, everyone gasped at the massive crater it had created, and in the center was an unconscious Gildarts Clive.

The crowd was dead silent. A thirteen year old just beat Gildarts. _Gildarts._ The guy who single handedly causes Magnolia to rearrange their whole city just to make way for him. To them, it seemed impossible, but then again, someone had just done it.

After a few seconds, Erza remembered she was the ref and got her act together. She raised the flag up high into the air.

"The victor is Kakashi Hatake!" She declared loudly. The crowd cheered.

"Did you see that skeleton?! That was so cool!"

"I know! And it knocked out Gildarts in one hit!"

"Can Natsu do that?"

Kakashi just waved at the crowd and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, appearing next to Natsu and Makarov.

"Yo." He said, holding up a peace sign. Makarov jumped in surprise, and Natsu just nodded at him.

Kakashi looked at Natsu. "You wanna go do a mission? I need the money for some furniture."

Natsu tilted his head, confused. "furniture? For what?"

Kakashi eye smiled. "I bought a house earlier, but it cost me all my jewels."

Natsu whistled. "Damn, must be a damn good house if it cost you that much."

Makarov was confused. "How much was the house, Kakashi?"

"About a million." Kakashi responded casually.

Makarov's eyes widened in surprise. "How on Earthland did you get all those jewels?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Few bounty jobs I did before joining the guild." Makarov nodded, accepting his answer.

Natsu just shrugged. "Alright, let's do it." He said, nodding at Kakashi. They both promptly disappeared in a swirl.

JUST OUTSIDE THE GUILD HALL

The members were just returning, led by Makarov and Gildarts. People were still chattering excitedly about the recent fight.

When they got in the doors, their jaws dropped, except for Nab, who just burst into tears. The request board was _completely_ empty, every job request gone like the wind.

Gray looked skeptical. "What the hell happened? There's not a single team in this guild that could do all those at the same time, and yet the only people that aren't here are..."

"Natsu and Kakashi." Makarov finished.

Macao stared at Makarov. "Surely you couldn't have let them take _all_ the jobs."

Makarov sighed. "No, I didn't. But I didn't tell them they couldn't either, I just assumed that they would only take one, or maybe a few."

Everyone else sweat dropped, except for Aki, who raised her fist in determination. "I WANNA FIGHT EM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME!" She yelled.

"WHAT?!"

30 MINUTES LATER

The members of the guild had just settled down after the exhilarating fight. People were sitting at their regular tables, with their favourite foods. Aki had decided to sit with Erza's group, since they were similar age.

Aki was still talking about how she wanted to fight Natsu and Kakashi.

"I wanna fight them soooo bad! They're so strong!" She exclaimed.

The rest of the group sighed and looked at her. "You couldn't even beat Natsu one on one... How do you expect to fight Natsu and Kakashi at the same time? And Kakashi just beat our guild's strongest member one on one, so you really have no chance. Even if you did want to challenge them, they probably won't even be back for a lo-"

She was cut off by two swirls in the room that spat out Kakashi and Natsu. Kakashi eye smiled, gave them all a peace sign, and said "Yo." Natsu just waved and walked to the bar. Kakashi went to Erza's table. He sat down, ignoring the incredulous looks of all the other mages currently sitting at the table.

After a few seconds, he looked up, and raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked.

They all exploded. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU COMPLETE SO MANY JOBS SO FAST?" Erza yelled.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU TAKE SO MANY? WE NEED MONEY TOO Y'KNOW!" Gray screamed.

"FIGHT ME!" Yelled Aki.

"CAN YOU TAKE OFF YOUR MASK?" Asked Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman.

"I don't know, because we wanted to, no, and no." He responded while pulling out his book.

Erza narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, you don't know?" She asked.

"If I tell you, you won't pester me, yeah?" He asked. Erza nodded.

Kakashi formed a cross seal with his fingers. " **Shadow Clone Jutsu!** " He called out.

Suddenly, a poof of smoke appeared next to Kakashi, and out of the smoke emerged a perfect copy of himself.

Erza raised an eyebrow. "That's a strange way to make a though projection, but that still doesn't explain my question."

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "Actually, this isn't a thought projection, see?" He said, making the clone tap her on the shoulder.

Erza's eyes widened. "Clone Magic?... Very rare indeed. So is that how you completed the missions so fast?" Kakashi nodded.

"But wait a minute. Clone Magic is rumored to require a great amount of magic power to even create _one_ clone. How could you create enough to get all those missions done?" She asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "It's not me, it's Natsu. He made a few thousand clones to do the tedious chores while we cleaned up the bandit camps."

At this point, the whole table joined in. "A FEW THOUSAND?!" They all screamed. "Just how much magic power does he have?" Asked Gray.

"A lot." Responded Kakashi.

It was at this point that Natsu wandered over to the table.

"Hey guys." he said, waving with a smile. "Kakashi, Makarov said we needed to name our squad for it to officially be a 'team'." He said.

Kakashi shrugged. "Fine." He responded.

"So what should the name be then?"

Kakashi rubbed his chin, thinking. "How about 'Team Ghost'?"

Natsu nodded, smiling. "I like it."

But suddenly Aki piped up with a question. "But that's Kakashi's ability... Wouldn't it be a little selfish to only name the team after one person?" She asked. The others nodded at her logic.

Natsu laughed, before activating his mangekyo and putting his hand through the table. "But it's not only Kakashi's ability." He responded.

Everyone's jaws dropped. "Well never mind then." Aki responded weakly.

And with that, the two laughing members of Team Ghost left out the guild's doors.

 **Just so you know, Kakashi _can_ use the perfect susanoo, it's just that he didn't need it to fight Gildarts.**


	14. CH-14: The SSS-Rank Mission?

**Sorry for the slow chapters lately. The reason I could get them out so fast earlier was because it was spring break, so I had tons of time. Now that school has started?... Not so much, But I'm tryin.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, Fairy Tail, The Elder Scrolls, or Dark Souls.**

One year had passed since Natsu and Kakashi joined the guild within quick succession. Over the year, people only ever saw them in the guild, usually talking to the people of their age group, before heading off on another mission. Team Ghost quickly rose up to be among Fairy Tail's strongest teams, having never failed a job, as well as completing them in record time.

All this attention attracted the Sorcerer Weekly, which is the exact opposite to what Natsu and Kakashi wanted. Right now in particular, we find a very interesting blonde reporter coming to Fairy Tail, and he seems to be infatuated with the word 'cool'.

"Yeah, the mission wasn't too har-" Kakashi tried to get his sentence out, but was cut off by the doors of the guild slamming open, revealing a blonde man with a camera and notepad.

"FAIRY TAIL FOR REAL! COOOOOOOOOOOL" He exclaimed. He began scurrying around, taking pictures and trying to get interviews from the more interesting members of the guild.

This promptly stopped, however, when he noticed Natsu and Kakashi. He rushed over to them, camera in one hand, notepad in the other.

"COOL! Who are you two?! And by the way, have you seen Team Ghost around anywhere?" He asked.

This caused the people currently seated at the table to grow confused. Team Ghost was right in front of him, what was he talking about?

Gray lifted a finger and began to spoke. "You crazy? They're ri-" But he couldn't finish, because Natsu smothered his mouth with sand.

Kakashi eye smiled and bowed apologetically. "Sorry, we don't know where they are. My friend and I are just some new recruits." He responded, making the others even more confused.

Jason became a little deflated at the news, but soon sprang back up to his earlier attitude. "THE DEMON MIRAJANE! COOOOOOL!" He yelled, sprinting full tilt towards Mirajane, who was at the bar getting a drink.

As soon as he was gone, Natsu took his sand away from Gray's mouth, allowing him to speak again.

"What the hell man? Why'd you do that? And why did you say you don't know where Team Ghost is? You guys are right here?" Gray asked skeptically.

"And how come he didn't recognize you guys? Surely people would recognize you by now." Erza continued.

Natsu shook his head. "We don't want any attention on us, it's pretty annoying to be honest. And they don't recognize us because we wear masks during our missions. Besides, Erza, are you sure you want all the fan girls knowing who Kakashi is?..." He asked, smirking.

Erza looked horrified. "W-what?! I-I don't care! What are you talking about?!" She asked, flustered and blushing hard.

Natsu turned to Kakashi and smirked. "Didn't even have to take off your face mask this time, eh?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you know about that?..." He asked suspiciously.

Natsu grinned. "Naruto told me."

Kakashi sighed, shaking his head. "That kid is going to be the death of me..." He muttered. Suddenly, he changed to a horrified expression. _Wait... I'M YOUNGER THAN NARUTO NOW!_

Kakashi inwardly groaned, putting away his book before disappearing in a whirl of leaves.

Natsu turned to them and smirked. "Hey guys, I think it's time for an SSS-Rank mission."

They turned to him, curious. "What? But none of us are S-Class mages! And we would still need-" Erza began, but Natsu cut her off.

"The mission is to unmask Kakashi!" He exclaimed.

They all stared at him. Gray spoke up. "At least a normal SSS-Class is possible..." He muttered.

Natsu smirked. "Don't worry, I have a few ideas. Wanna join me?"

HALF AN HOUR LATER

"I can't believe we're doing this..." Muttered an annoyed Aki.

Natsu shh'd her. "Don't worry, It'll be worth it." He said.

They were currently sneaking around Kakashi's house, trying to be silent as possible. Even Erza and Gray were there. Mirajane and the other siblings were on a special S-Rank job, so they couldn't come, no matter how much they wanted to.

The house was immensly large, having cost almost a million jewels. It was made mostly of wood, adopting a look similar to a medieval manor, albeit on a much smaller scale. The house came with no furniture, except the lights, which had been pre-installed. It was actually quite new, only being a few months old.

They kept going around Kakashi's house that could easily be considered a mansion. The creaking floorboards seemed as loud as cannons to them, and they froze every time they stepped on one. Which was about every ten seconds.

They were looking for one specific item there. Or rather, a _few_ specific items. And they just happened to all have 'Icha Icha' in the name. They assumed the books would be in the bookshelf, but it seems that Kakashi had hidden them somewhere.

Oh, that's right. Kakashi's house just happened to have a small library.

The ragtag group continued on through the mansion, desperately trying to find Kakashi's prized books. They looked everywhere. It's a good thing that they cleaned up after themselves, otherwise it would look like someone had just ransacked Kakashi's house.

"Come on, Natsu, isn't there some other way we could see Kakashi's face? How about just asking him to go eat with us?" Complained Gray. "And I'm sure Erza would be perfectly happy to ask him." He continued, causing Erza to blush a bright red.

Natsu shook his head. "People have tried that, Gray, and about a million other ways. As far as I know, this is the only way to beat him." Natsu said, remembering when Naruto told him about when Team Seven tried to get Kakashi to reveal his face.

 _Hell, who even has seen his face? The Third Hokage probably has, and his dad. But they're both dead! Hmm... maybe Sasuke? Yamato? Why am I even thinking of this? It's not like we'll ever see any of those people again._

Still though, Natsu couldn't help but think of the various people that might have had the once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing his mask less face. Naruto had told him that it was to prevent a fangirl situation, which was understandable after seeing Sasuke walk around.

Suddenly, Erza gained a triumphant expression, and spoke a little too loud. "AHA! I see it!" She said, pointing.

They all rushed over to where Erza was pointing, finding them neatly stacked on the kitchen counter, making them all sweat drop.

"So much for hiding 'em..." Natsu muttered, picking up the top book, flipping it around, making sure it was actually the book. "Hehe, we got it guys... Now, here's the plan..." He said, bringing them into a huddle to explain.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

Kakashi has had a long day. First the reporter, then he had to do some sort of searching mission, and without Natsu's clones, it was a real pain. Something a genin should be doing to be honest, and it frustrated Kakashi to no end.

He sighed as he walked into his house, taking off his coat and putting it on the rack. He rolled his shoulders, stretching his aching muscles from the menial tasks of the day. Suddenly, he noticed movement in his house, and turned his head towards it questioningly.

Natsu swiveled around in Kakashi's armchair, with a smirk on his face. He held up the books they stole. "Looking for these, Kakashi?" He asked. He held the books in one hand, and fire in the other.

Kakashi recoiled in horror. "What's going on! Natsu?!" He yelled. _Even they're trying it now? Damn. I thought it would be longer to be honest. How long was it for Naruto's group?... I can't even remember now._

Erza, Gray, and Aki then stepped out from their hiding places. Erza pointed her sword at him. "Reveal your face or the books burn!" She declared menacingly.

Kakashi stared at them wide-eyed. "Ok, ok! I will, just wait!" He cried, reaching his hand up to his nose.

The group stared at him in expectation. Time seemed to move in slow motion as his hand glided up to the top of his mask. Closer... Closer... Closer...

Then, they all blinked as Kakashi just disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the group completely speechless at his hasty exit. Eventually, the shock wore off, and it was safe to say they were fairly frustrated.

"DAMNIT!" Natsu swore.

"So close..." Gray and Aki muttered.

Erza just sighed in exasperation. _Damn._ She thought. _We were so close... I wonder if he's super handsome or something?... WAIT! No. Why am I thinking like this?!_

AT THE GUILD HALL

The newly-made book stealers walked into the guild hall only to see Kakashi looking perfectly calm sitting at their usual table reading his prized book. His legs were crossed, and he didn't seem to notice them walk in.

They walked over to the table and sat down, awkwardly staring at Kakashi. Most of them thought that Kakashi would be angry with them for trying to reveal his face and burn his books. Eventually Natsu spoke up.

"So you keep an extra copy of those things?" He asked. Unlike the others, Natsu knew Kakashi got attempts like this all the time, so he didn't really care.

Kakashi nodded and kept reading. He looked perfectly calm, but inwardly he was laughing his head off. _They must be so confused! Ah... It's always like this the first time. Too bad Natsu already knows what's up._

Natsu just shrugged and walked over to the bar to get a drink, leaving Gray, Erza, and Kakashi just sitting there at the table.

Gray noticed the somewhat... quiet mood. Standing up, he pointed a finger at Erza. "Come on, Erza! Let's go do some training! I still have to master my Ice Dragon Slayer magic, and you can use that cool sword Natsu gave you!" Hearing his name, Natsu turned to them from the bar and gave them a thumbs up. Gray just hoped that his idea would be able to lighten Erza up a bit.

Erza gave Kakashi a guilty glance, before standing up slowly and walking behind Gray to the training field in the guild's back yard.

Kakashi looked up with an eyebrow raised. _Damn, she's taking this harder than I thought... Does she really have a crush on me? Never thought I'd see the day... Well, with my mask anyway. Maybe she could be the one?..._

A FEW HOURS LATER, WITH GRAY AND ERZA

 **ICE DRAGON'S ROAR!** yelled a grimy and sweaty Gray. He was covered in small cuts and bruises and was panting heavily.

A small whitish-blue ball of light appeared in front of his mouth, which promptly shot out several strands of turquoise ice that looked like lightning. They stuck closely together, spiraling around each other like a braid with more than three strands.

 **(Like Ice Beam from the pokemon television show)**

The ice headed straight towards Erza, who looked much the same as Gray, although without as many bruises or scratches, since she was the one doing more damage.

Erza had decided to use the blade with her Flame Empress armour, which was what she was currently wearing. Since she didn't possess the Ice Empress armour, this would be the next best thing, hoping to melt Gray's ice with fire. Turns out dragon slayer ice happens to be _much, much_ colder than Gray's normal ice, so at first it didn't turn out so well.

That is, until she decided to use the sword's special ability. Once the blade had been set ablaze in black fire, it cut through the dragon slayer ice with relative ease, only meeting resistance when Gray combined his Ice-Make and Ice Dragon Slayer magic.

As she saw the attack growing closer to her, she got into a low stance, Onyx Blade in one hand, Flame Empress Sword in the other. She set her blades alight, and put them up into a cross guard, nullifying Gray's attack.

When the dust settled, they both stood there looking at each other, panting from exhaustion.

"It seems you have gotten quite the power boost with that dragon lacrima, Gray." Erza commented.

Gray grinned. "Yeah, it really is amazing. Too bad I can't eat my own ice though, that would be cool." He said.

Erza sighed. "Yeah..." She said, looking sadly at her feet. _I wonder if Kakashi is still mad at me? I really hope not._

Gray noticed her out of it look and decided to take action. "If you really think Kakashi is still mad at you, why don't you just talk to him about it?" He asked, clearly confused.

"Let's just go back inside, Gray." Declared an exasperated Erza.

A WHILE LATER IN THE EVENING

Erza just couldn't get Kakashi out of her head. What if he hated her now? Would she ever be able to get his trust back? Or would he just hate her forever? But she decided that she would ask him about it tonight, or rather, right now.

She finished her last piece of cake, and paid the bill, returning the plate to the counter of the bar. Immediately, she began her search for the copy ninja, looking in every nook and cranny desperately.

After a full hour of searching, she still couldn't find him anywhere. She had looked through the entire guild, and beyond, even going as far as Kakashi's house. Starting to give in to despair, she sat down at one of the benches. They were all open, as all the other guild members had left.

Tears brimmed the corners of her eyes, and she buried her face in her hands. _This is horrible! I can't find him anywhere! What if he's purposely ignoring me... He probably doesn't even want to talk to me after what I did..._

"Looking for something?" She heard a voice call out from above her.

She looked up at the voice, not even caring if anyone saw her cry anymore. Her eyes widened when she saw Kakashi casually sitting on one of the support beams that run across the top of the guild hall. He eye smiled and waved at her, before appearing beside her in a fancy swirl of red leaves.

Erza shifted her feet nervously. "H-hey Kakashi... I'm r-really sorry a-abou-" But Kakashi cut her off, holding up his hand telling her to stop.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Back where I come from, I had people trying to get under my mask constantly." He said, waving his hand dismissively.

Erza's frown instantly turned to a smile. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and fixed her slumped posture from crying. She was about to thank him, but he cut her off yet again.

"But I never understood why you people want to see under my mask." He said, shrugging.

"Well, I-we want to see your face obviously!." She said with a bright smile, correcting herself mid-sentence.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her response, before responding with something completely off topic. "This is completely off topic, but I never got a straight forward answer as to what Fairy Tail is all about. Natsu just told me it was like a family, but that's it. Can you explain further?" He asked.

Erza tilted her head at the odd question. "Uhh... well yeah, sure! In Fairy Tail, we all treat each other like family, and would do anything to protect them. Master even considers all of us his 'kids'. Fairy Tail also signifies a never ending adventure! Do fairies even have tails? do they even exist? It's an eternal mystery, a never ending adventure to be shared with your precious family!" She finished in a glorious tone.

Kakashi eye smiled and looked up at the sky, reminiscing. _You would like it a lot here, Lord Third, Jiraiya._

Once Erza had finished her explanation, she looked at Kakashi, wondering why he cared so much about their guild's 'motto'. But when her eyes came upon Kakashi, she gasped, and almost fainted.

Kakashi had taken off his mask, and boy oh boy was he handsome. _He could dethrone Hibiki in half a second!_ She thought, blushing a deep red, not even noticing how her jaw had dropped. Then the more... depressing thoughts came in like a tsunami. _With that kind of face... he could get any girl he wants... Why would he ever want me? I'm not even pretty, or anything for that matter!_ She thought, gritting her teeth, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes yet again.

Kakashi smirked at her. "What? Too ugly for ya?" He teased.

Erza, who was still flustered to no end, shook her head rapidly.

Kakashi smiled, which happened to be the first time that anyone had ever seen a real smile from him.

Poor Erza didn't stand a damn chance. She fainted on the spot with a cute squeal. Out before she even hit the ground. Kakashi sighed and caught her with one arm, putting his mask back on with the other. He put her unconscious form on his back, piggyback style, and began the long trek back to Fairy Hill's, where he knew Erza lived.

THE NEXT MORNING

The guild was just being it's normal self. Few brawls here and there, mostly caused by Aki, who constantly fought with Gray. Makarov sat at the bar drinking, along with Cana. The others were just sitting at their normal tables, enjoying the day.

Suddenly, the guild doors slammed open revealing a red-haired, twelve year old girl. She ran in the guild, not even bothering to say hi to Makarov or the other guild members.

Getting to her table, where the rest of her friends sat, she stood at the head of the table, staring down at them menacingly.

"Where is Kakashi!" She demanded, slamming her metal-encased fist on the table, causing a small crater to form.

They all stared at her in confusion at her weird mood. They all knew where Kakashi was, but nobody had the guts to tell her, until a certain ice mage came to the reasonable conclusion that someone else would eventually tell her, but she would still beat them up anyways for not telling her.

"Erza... Kakashi and Natsu left on a decade quest."


	15. CH-15: The celestial spirit mage!

**Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait, but here's the new chapter. This is probably going to be the only canon storyline that I have in here that doesn't feature Natsu or Kakashi. And I'm currently deciding when Natsu and Kakashi should come back, so maybe you guys can give me some suggestions? Anyways, I hope you enjoy.**

Six years have passed since the shinobi of Fairy Tail have left on their decade quest. Not too much had changed in the guild, since most of the members hardly even knew Natsu, and fewer knew Kakashi. The only ones who were sad to see them go were the people in their age group, them being Gray, Aki, Erza, Levy, Jet, Droy, and the two remaining Strauss siblings. They hardly thought about it now, adapting to their life without Natsu and Kakashi, although they all harbored a little hope that the pair would come back, even if most people thought they were either dead, or gone forever.

But for now, we find ourselves at a cozy little port town called Hargeon. The sun shines brightly, and the birds chirp happily as life in the city goes along normally. Citizens are enjoying themselves, children are playing cheerfully, even the sailors had come in from their ships to enjoy the day!

However, our focus is on a single blonde-haired would-be celestial spirit mage. The wizard in question was named Lucy Heartfilia, and this is where the story begins.

"There's only one magic shop in this entire town?!" Exclaimed a surprised Lucy.

"Well... yeah. We're more about fishing rather than magic to be honest. Hardly one tenth of the people in this town can even use magic!" The shop keeper explained, causing Lucy to sigh, completely dejected.

"All this way for nothing?..." She muttered.

The shop keeper waved his hands around frantically. "Nonono! We have plenty of goods! All the new stock, I assure you!" He said, waving around various trinkets and baubles in front of Lucy's face, hoping to catch her interest.

She just ignored him, looking around the shop seemingly looking for a specific item. "Actually, I'm looking for powerful gate keys!" She said.

The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's a rare request! Well, we've got this one here, the white doggy, Nikola!"

Lucy shot up in excitement. "YES! I've been looking for that one for a while! How much?!" She asked.

The shop keeper sweat dropped. "It's not even powerful... but it's still twenty thousand jewels!" He said.

OUTSIDE, A FEW MINUTES LATER

A furious Lucy stomped through the streets, clearly agitated greatly about something.

"I can't believe my sex appeal is only worth ONE THOUSAND!" She exclaimed to literally nobody.

"That old bastard wouldn't see beauty IF IT SLAPPED HIM IN THE FACE!" She exclaimed yet again, shaking her fist in rage.

She would have continued her little hissy fit, but it just so happened that she happened to hear something interesting in the background.

"Have you heard? The mighty Salamander is here!"

"Where?! Where?! I want to meet him! I bet you he's super hot!"

Lucy's ears perked up. Were they talking about the one? _The_ Salamander? The one who uses unique magic that you can't purchase in stores?

Lucy decided to follow the two young girls she had heard chatting earlier, it couldn't hurt, right?

Eventually she found herself behind a huge wall of people, all desperately attempting to get to the front. Lucy pushed her way through the crowd, until she got a view of the 'Salamander'.

Suddenly, her heart was beating furiously, and she could feel her cheeks warming up. _Is this what love at first sight is? Wow! I never kne-_ She couldn't finish the thought though, due to a flurry of long green hair rushing through the crowd.

"HEY! FLAMARIA! IT'S M- Hey, who the hell are you?" She asked at the end, clearly annoyed at seeing this man instead of whoever she was asking for.

The 'Salamander' turned to her and flashed her a smile, causing the crowd of girls to let out squeals of fangirl delight. "Oh? I'm the great Salamander! I'm sure you've heard of me." He said with a smug smirk.

The girl just sighed in defeat, slumping her shoulders dramatically. "Nope, sorry, I'll just be leaving now." She said as she began walking away.

But the fangirls would have something else to say about that.

"How dare you be so rude to Mr. Salamander!"

"Yeah! He's like the greatest wizard ever!"

"And isn't he just the hottest guy you've ever seen?!"

They all bombarded Aki with insults and questions. Good thing she wasn't a guy, right? Otherwise they might beat her up!

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, AT A NEARBY RESTAURANT

Food was flying everywhere. Grapes, chicken, steaks, drinks, not a single thing went untouched. Lucy just looked at the girl in front of her in disappointment.

 _Well there goes the money I saved on my key..._ she thought. _How can someone even eat this much? Where does it even go?!_

She continued to watch Aki eat for a few minutes before deciding to make some conversation.

"So..." She began. "Aki and Happy right?" She asked. Aki and Happy nodded.

"Well just so you know, that creep earlier was using a charm spell, and you broke me out of it! So this is my way of saying thanks." She finished with a smile.

Aki just looked at her strangely and shrugged. "No problem." She said, picking up yet more food.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually a wizard too!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah?" Aki half-heartedly replied, still eating.

"Yeah! I haven't joined a guild yet though..." She said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh!" She exclaimed as if she had suddenly realized something important. "Guilds are organizations where wizards meet in order to get jobs and share information! You can't really be called a full-fledged mage until you join a guild." She explained.

After this little explanation, she began rambling about all the different guilds she had heard about, stopping every once in a while for a breather. Aki just sorta tuned her out.

"But this probably just sounds like gibberish to you, sorry! I just get so excited! And I'm defintely going to join that guild!" She said with a determined face.

Lucy had a dreamy expression on her face for a few moments before she spoke again. "Wait, you were looking for someone, right?" She asked Aki.

Aki sighed. "Yeah, we were looking for Flamaria. We heard a rumor saying that a 'Salamander' would be here, but it wasn't the right person." She said, clearly disappointed.

Happy decided this would be the prime time to interject. "Yeah, that guy didn't even _look_ like a dragon! And he was a guy!" He said as if it were the dumbest thing in the world.

Lucy was confused. "Wait, this person you're looking for looks like a dragon?" She asked.

Aki shook her head. "No. Flamaria _is_ a dragon!" She explained.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD THERE BE A DRAGON IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN?!"

A FEW HOURS LATER

Lucy had finished her lunch with her strange new friend, and had found herself a nice little bench to settle down and read the latest copy of the Sorcerer Weekly.

Lucy opened the book, scanning the first page carefully. "Hmm..." she muttered to herself. "I wonder what'll be featured this time!"

She flipped through a few more pages. "Ooh! Hibiki takes the number one spot for 'The mage I want to have for a boyfriend' yet again! I wonder what he's like!" She exclaimed, stopping momentarily to look at the picture of Hibiki that was featured in the magazine.

"What else... What else..." She muttered, continuing to flip through pages. "Aha! FOUND YOU!" She exclaimed, waving the magazine around in delight.

"Now let's see what Fairy Tail has been up to..." She said.

She laughed. "Four houses and two restaurants destroyed in epic fight?! HAHAHA! Just Fairy Tail causing more destruction I suppose!"

Suddenly, she turned the page and squealed in a fangirlish fashion. "Ooh! Mirajane! She's soooooo pretty!" She sighed. "I can't wait to join Fairy Tail!"

"Did I hear someone say: 'Fairy Tail' ?"

She turned to the sudden noise. Out of the bushes beside her came the 'Salamander' she had seen before. The creep was still wearing the same getup, but looked like he was looking for someone. Maybe her?

"What do you want, you creep?" She asked with hostility.

The man suddenly adopted a depressed look. "Creep?..."

Lucy raised her eyebrows as if it were completely obvious, which it was to be honest. "YEAH! You were using a charm spell just to be popular! That's creepy!"

'Salamander' waved her off. "Now, now, who can blame me? Just wanted to be a little popular is all." He said with a beaming smile. "Now, I heard you wanted to join Fairy Tail? Well, have you ever heard of the 'Salamander'? One of Fairy Tail's mages?" He asked, smirking at her reaction.

Lucy froze, and stared at him. "YOU'RE THAT SALAMANDER?" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Indeed I am, now if you come to the party tonight, I'm sure I could put in a good word for you." He finished with a smirk.

Lucy decided now was the opportune time to go full fangirl mode. She ran right up to him started jabbering him with questions about Fairy Tail, all while maintaining her 'cute' form.

'Salamander' sighed and raised an eyebrow at her. _Well that was way easier than I thought._

LATER THAT EVENING, ON THE YACHT

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Yelled a confused and angry Lucy.

'Salamander' smirked. "Welcome aboard my ship, Lucy." said 'Salamander' with a smug smirk. "I'd advise you just shut up an behave yourself until we make it to Bosco." He added. "And don't make me angry."

Lucy sputtered in outrage. "BOSCO!? WHAT ABOUT FAIRY TAIL?!" She screamed.

Bosco just waved her off and smirked again. "Oh? That was just something I said to lure you on board this ship!" He finished, laughing slightly.

Lucy looked around her. "You're just going to kidnap all these girls? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Lucy exclaimed, reaching for her keys. "I'll show you..."

'Salamander just laughed at her. "Oh, I'm sure you will." He said, conjuring up a bit of purple fire and grabbing the keys from her hand.

He looked down at the keys in his hand. "Gate keys? So you're a celestial mage!" He discovered. "Well, only contracted wizards can use these things, so they're completely useless to me." He said.

"Whoops!" He exclaimed dramatically, casually tossing the key ring overboard.

Lucy fell to her knees, trembling in a mixture of anger, fear, and uncertainty. Tears started welling up in the corners of her eyes, threatening to break loose at any moment and start the waterworks.

"You used magic to completely take advantage of people!" She yelled in fury.

"YOU'RE THE WORST WIZARD ALIVE!" She screamed.

Suddenly, the ceiling behind 'Salamander' just exploded, leaving a huge cloud of dust and debris. Everyone in the room just stared in shock.

'Salamander' blinked once and looked at the hole. All of a sudden, the girl from earlier with green hair and a navy blue tailcoat floated down from the gash in the ceiling. She was being carried by a small blue cat with wings.

"Oi! You there! You say you're from Fairy Tail eh?" She asked, pointing an accusing finger at him.

The 'Salamander' took a moment to get over his shock at someone just blowing a hole in his boat and casually floating through _being carried by a floating cat_.

"Yes! I am from Fairy Tail! I am the great 'Salamander'!" He exclaimed, puffing his chest out as if to accentuate his claim.

Before the girl could respond though, Lucy finally gathered the courage to speak out. "HEY! AKI! What the hell are you doing here!" She yelled, trying to get her attention.

Unfortunately for her, Aki just ignored her little outburst, and instead focused on the situation at hand.

She narrowed her eyes at the supposed 'Salamander'. All of a sudden, twisted her arm around so that the back of her right bicep would be visible. They all gasped. There, sitting on her right bicep, was a Fairy Tail guild mark being displayed proudly in a brilliant red colour.

"WELL I'M AKI DRAGNEEL OF FAIRY TAIL! AND I SURE AS HELL HAVEN'T SEEN YOU BEFORE!" She declared, looking at him menacingly.

One of 'Salamander's various henchmen looked her now visible guild mark, staring at it for a few seconds, before stepping back in fear. "B-Bora sir, she's the real deal! Look at the mark!" He exclaimed, pointing towards Aki.

Bora snapped his head at the man who spoke. "Don't call me that you idiot! And besides, it's nothing I can't handle." The man now revealed as Bora said.

He raised both his palms towards Aki. **PROMINENCE TYPHOON!** he shouted, unleashing a massive purple flame from the magic circle in front of him.

Aki stared at the flames impassively, simply waiting for them to reach her.

Lucy watched in horror as the fire engulfed both Aki and Happy. To her, it seemed like the two friends she had recently made had just been burnt to a crisp.

She fell to her knees in tears. _Why? Why am I always so weak? Why can't I save_ _ **anyone**_ _?Isn't that what being a mage is all about? Helping the people who can't help themselves?_

But then, the flames around Aki started slowly disappearing, and she began to see a silhouette of the green haired girl in the midst of the inferno. And she was... yawning?

"Man, you call yourself a fire wizard? These flames taste terrible!" proclaimed Aki as the rest of the flames disappeared into her mouth.

Everyone the vicinity's jaw dropped. Did she just... eat fire?

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Yelled a shocked Bora, pointing an accusing finger straight towards Aki.

Lucy finally got over the shock of Aki's strange fire eating abilities. _She's from Fairy Tail! HOW DID I NOT NOTICE EARLIER!_ She mentally screamed.

All of a sudden, a loud noise broke Lucy out of her thoughts.

Aki got into a wide stance, stacking her balled up fists on top of each other in front of her mouth. **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!**

A blazing inferno shot from the magic circle that had appeared in front of Aki's face. The fire was a deep red colour, much different than normal orangey-yellow fire, but after seeing Bora's purple flames, Lucy didn't think much of it.

Aki's attack raced towards the crowd of Bora's henchmen, inciting looks of pure fear and terror upon their faces. When the flame reached them, a huge explosion appeared, followed by a plume of smoke and debris.

Lucy gasped at the power of her attack, not doubting for a second that she had dealt with all of Bora's minions effectively. She just hoped none of them were dead.

When the smoke cleared, all the thugs were knocked out, and had terrible burns covering their body. The captured girls were not affected however, inciting much curiousity from the young celestial spirit mage.

Lucy stared at Aki, wondering how one person could have this much power, marveling at the pure destructiveness of her attack. It was just then when she heard one of the henchmen who had fled with Bora speak up.

"B-bora! I-It has to be her! The long green flowing h-hair and tailcoat! I-it's the-"

"Salamander..." Lucy finished, staring wide-eyed at the girl in front of her.

 **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** Aki slammed her fists together in front of her, lighting them on fire in the process. She charged at the remaining henchmen, taking them out one punch at a time, until only Bora was left.

 _Is this the power of a Fairy Tail mage?_ Lucy thought.

Eventually Aki got to Bora, and began charging up another roar. **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** She yelled, releasing another massive torrent of deep red fire. Bora used his purple magic to float over the fire, dodging it by mere inches, but still getting the bottoms of his fancy shoes singed.

Bora got into a stance of his own, and a magic circle appeared in front of him. **HELL'S PROMINENCE!**

Out of the magic circle, purple energy started forming into a ball, which floated a little in front of Bora's hands. The ball promptly turned into a huge laser, cutting across the boat and town in a straight line. Huge lines of explosions followed the beam, tearing through the boat, and razing the ground and houses beam nailed Aki dead on, prompting a huge explosion and a cloud of smoke.

Once again though, Aki just opened wide and inhaled all the flames that hit her, making her even more powerful than before the attack. Bora paled. Seeing his strongest attack have no effect on his opponent was rather intimidating to say the least.

Aki decided it was time to end it. She channeled her magic to her feet, hopping through the air as if she were stepping on solid ground. She reached Bora with a flaming fist reached back, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

 **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!**

Her fist collided with Bora's face, sending him flying back hundreds of meters before finally coming to a stop at the bell tower, making a huge * _GONG_ * sound. It was quite comical really.

Aki fell back down to the ground and dusted herself off. Once she stood up, she looked rather confused, turning every which way, seeming to be looking for something. Eventually, she found what she was looking for, and her face paled. Lucy grew worried.

"A-Aki? Wha-"

Suddenly, Aki grabbed her hand, dragging her along as she ran through town.

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! WE GOTTA GO!" She yelled behind her.

"WHY?!" Lucy responded.

Aki kept running but adopted a rather confused expression.

"Well you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?"


	16. CH-16: Team Dragon

All was well in the Fairy Tail guild. Cana drinking, Gray stripping, average shit, yknow? Well, that is until the doors burst open with a mighty crash. Two figures walked through the doorway.

"I'M BACK!" Yelled Aki, standing proudly in the main entrance. Lucy sheepishly walked in behind Aki.

The members of the guild just gave half-hearted waves and greetings, focusing instead on whatever they were previously doing.

A certain buck-toothed member of the guild decided that this would be an excellent time to speak up. Wrong already.

"Heyyy Aki! Heard you dealt some damage over in Hargeon!" He said, waving at her.

Suddenly there was a fist planted in his face, sending him flying back into the wall behind him. Lucy blinked in shock.

"FLAMARIA WASN'T EVEN THERE YOU LIAR! WHERE'D YOU GET YOUR INFO FROM!?" Demanded a furious Aki.

The unfortunate buck-tooth fellow raised his palms in surrender. "Hey, hey, chill out. It was just a rumor!"

Aki punched him again, sending him back towards the rest of the guild, inciting a huge brawl. "JUST A RUMOR!?" She screamed, leaping into the fray.

The guild was in utter chaos, as usual when Aki was there. Tables, chairs, and drinks flew everywhere, sometimes hitting people who were just trying to stay out of it all. The guild members raced around in all directions, swinging kicks and punches every which way, not even caring who they hit, as long as they hit something. Such is the nature of a Fairy Tail brawl.

But Lucy was oblivious to all this. She was a little dumbfounded that all her dreams were now coming to life, as she was now inside the fabled guild hall. She took a tentative step forward, pulling her one bag of luggage along behind her. Even as cool as it was being here, she couldn't help but think they were a little weird.

 _Why the hell are they fighting? Aren't they supposed to be guild members? friends? teammates?_ She wondered, but was snapped out of her thoughts by a honey-sweet voice behind her.

"Hello there! You must be new!" She heard the voice say.

Lucy turned around, and what she saw made her gasp. _IT'S MIRAJANE! OH. MY. GOD. Ok Lucy, you can do this... just don't do anything dumb, and... SHE'S EVEN PRETTIER THAN IN THE MAGAZINES!_ Lucy's thoughts were in shambles. She was in total fangirl mode.

"MIRAJANE!" She screamed. "IN THE FLESH!"

Mirajane smiled and nodded. Soon enough, however, Lucy's rational side took over, forcing her out of the ridiculous state she was in. She put a hand to her mouth, as if trying to whisper amongst all the noise.

"Hey, uh... don't you think we should try and stop them?" She asked, deadpanning.

Mirajane giggled and shook her head. "Oh, don't worry about it," She began, waving her hand dismissively. "It's always like this! And don't you think it's kind of-"

She was going to finish her sentence, but the flying form of Elfman knocked her down, squishing her completely. Raising her head weakly, she put one finger up and continued. "Fun?..." She got out, before collapsing.

Lucy waved her hands around frantically. "NOOOOO! Don't die Mirajane! Waaaah!" She screamed, running circles around Mirajane's downed form.

Just then, the flying form of Loke came crashing into her, almost knocking her to the floor. She saw Loke get up and dust himself off, before looking directly at her.

"Hello there, miss, may I ask your name?" He asked in a sickly-sweet voice, taking her hand in his own dramatically.

Lucy blinked at the sudden appearance. "Umm... Lucy?"

Loke smiled dazzlingly. "Ahh... Lucy, what a beautifu- ARE THOSE SPIRIT KEYS?!"

Lucy looked confused. "Well... yeah?" She responded.

Loke made an over dramatic pose of tragedy. "I'm sorry, my love, but it seems that fate has pulled us apart!" He stated, running straight out of the guild hall.

"Errr... ok?"

She turned around from the weird occurrence, scanning the rest of the room to see what had happened to the rest of the guild. It was a complete mess. The tables and chairs were all either broken or flipped, drinks were spilled everywhere, making everything smell like alcohol. But it seemed like the brawl was over, much to her relief.

Her relief was short-lived though, as a giant, black monster decided to just hop into the middle of the room from seemingly nowhere.

The guild went quiet, all of them freezing in place as if they had been put into a block of ice. It stayed this way until she heard a yell, and looked over to see two people who had seemingly either not noticed the monster, or didn't care.

The two people in question were named Aki Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster. They stood atop a flipped table, both of them folding their arms proudly as they stood back to back, glaring down on the rest of the guild.

"HAH! It seems that we've won! Eh, Aki?" Gray said, laughing in delight.

Aki grinned. "Yeah! You guys are such babies!" She added on.

But their victory was fleeting, for a giant black foot just squished them both at their little outburst. Lucy gasped seeing Aki taken down that easily.

Then the monster turned and looked straight down at her, causing her to freeze. She looked up at it's white eyes and stared.

But then Mirajane decided to put in her two cents and spoke. "Oh, hey master! I didn't know you were here!" She exclaimed happily, waving at the massive monster.

Lucy started blinking rapidly between Mirajane and the monster, trying to comprehend what Mirajane had just said.

"Oh! You must a new member!" She heard the monster say. Just as it said that, it miraculously started shrinking and shrinking, until it was only the size of one of the bar stools.

As it turns out, said monster was not a monster, but instead the shortest little man Lucy had ever seen, and he was wearing some sort of orange clown outfit, complete with the silly hat. Not to mention he looked like he was at least eighty years old.

The little man looked up at Lucy and waved. "Nice to meet'cha! Name's Makarov Dreyar, and I'm the third master of Fairy Tail! Welcome to the guild!" He exclaimed.

As he finished speaking he tried to do a series of back flips up to the second floor railing. Key word here is _tried_. He may or may not have slammed straight into the banister. But never the less, he got up as if nothing had happened. He stood atop one of the wooden railing with papers in hand and began his speech.

 **(I'm not going to include this whole speech cause that's boring as fuck, and I feel like I've already made you read through enough of this default canon stuff. All you need to know is: Blah blah magic, blah blah, no rules, blah blah fuck the council. Done.)**

 _Wow..._ was all Lucy could think. Who knew that Master Makarov could be so inspiring!

After Makarov's little speech, the guild returned to normal, quickly recovering from the brawl and settling down to the usual drinking and gambling. Mirajane walked up to Lucy with her trademark bright smile and held the stamp towards her.

"So Lucy, where do you want your stamp? And in what colour?" She asked Lucy.

"On my left hand please, and in pink!" Lucy responded enthusiastically.

Mirajane pressed the stamping machine onto the back of Lucy's left hand, and stamped a pink Fairy Tail logo right onto her skin.

Lucy could hardly contain her excitement, almost jumping up and down in delight at finally being an official member of Fairy Tail. She ran over to Aki, eager to share about her new mark.

"Look Aki! I got my guild mark!" She exclaimed, waving the back of her left hand towards her.

Aki was scanning the request board for new and exciting jobs to partake. When she heard Lucy calling her, she didn't even turn around.

"Oh. That's nice, Luna." She responded with a bored look on her face.

Lucy grew a sudden tick mark on her forehead. "IT'S LUCY!" She yelled. Aki just shrugged.

Suddenly, Lucy adopted a rather curious expression. "Say, Aki, how come you and Gray are friends? I thought I saw him using ice magic earlier, and since you use fire, well..."

Aki chuckled at Lucy's comment. "You see, Gray and I used to be rivals! And we fought daily!" She exclaimed, raising her fist in front of her to accentuate her point. "But then, one day when we were fighting, Erza beat us up so badly that we had to stay home for the rest of the day!" Aki visibly shuddered at the thought. "After that day, Gray and I decided that we would team up to defeat Erza, and since then, we've been friends I guess." She finished, shrugging.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Wait. _The_ Erza?! WHOA! What's she like? I've never even seen a picture of her!"

Aki took on a frightful expression, as if she were explaining her worst nightmare. "SCARY!" She yelled.

Happy decided now was the time to show up and give his opinion. "Erza's a monster!"

Then she heard Gray shout from across the room. Which made her wonder how he even heard them. "She's a vile beast, Lucy!"

Lucy face faulted at their 'explanation'. "Right... Anyways, can I come with you for my first job? I'm kinda nervous." Lucy said.

Aki shrugged and nodded. "Sure I guess, I don't have a problem with it..." Suddenly she gained a devious expression, slightly spooking poor Lucy. "And I think I found the perfect one..."

She ripped a request off the board, stuffing it in her pocket before Lucy could even get a glimpse of what was on the paper.

Aki began walking to the exit, gesturing for Lucy to follow her, but she suddenly stopped, as if she had remembered something extremely important. She spun around and sprinted up to the bar.

Lucy saw her briefly say something to Gray, prompting him to nod, presumably agreeing to whatever Aki had said. She then said something to Mira, and wrote something down before walking back over to where Lucy was standing, this time with Gray beside her.

"Hey Lucy, Gray's gonna come with us, kay?" Aki said.

Lucy smiled. "Yeah, sure!" She exclaimed. But she was still curious about what Aki had written down at the bar. "Aki, what were you talking to Mira about? And what did you write down?" She asked.

Gray smirked, and Aki laughed. "I registered us as an official team!" She said.

Lucy became excited. "Really?! What's our team name?" She asked.

This time it was Gray who responded.

"Team Dragon!"

SEVERAL HOURS LATER

"Man, that job was so boring." Gray complained.

"Yeah... That fat guy's tunnel magic or whatever was pretty pathetic." Agreed Aki.

The three members of the newly formed Team Dragon were seated around a small cooking fire they had built on a small cliff side overlooking the ocean. Happy was fishing without a care in the world, and the rest of them ate a rabbit that Aki and Gray had caught while they were walking through the nearby forest.

They still had plenty of daylight left, so they were in no rush to return to the guild. The four of them just sat there peacefully, taking in the sun's rays.

But just as they were getting comfy, an explosion of sand followed by a dust cloud appeared over their camp site, obscuring each other from vision. When the dust cleared, Aki, Gray, and Lucy were buried waist deep in a pile of sand.

Gray and Aki sighed. "What now?!" They said at the same time. Lucy was still spitting sand out of her mouth.

Getting themselves out of the sand, they heard a faint cry from the distance.

"BUT IT'S GONNA MAKE ME TASTE WEIRD!"

Gray and Aki looked at each other and nodded, before running full speed towards where they heard Happy. Lucy just stood there bewildered, but after a few seconds she ran after them.

When they arrived on the scene, they saw a strange group of people trying to cook Happy on a rotisserie. And the poor little exceed was complaining about _tasting weird_!

Aki got into a roar stance, prompting Gray to do the same. They both put their fists on front of their mouths, prompting a red and blue magic circle to appear in front of each of them respectively. They both took a deep breath in, and leaned their heads back. **FIRE AND ICE DRAGON'S UNISON ROAR!** They both screamed at the same time, leaning forwards and exhaling.

From Gray shot several lines of ice that swirled around each other, from Aki shot a deep red swirl of flames. They both aimed so that their attacks would converge before reaching their targets, and when they did, the ice beams started swirling around Aki's fire.

Lucy gasped in surprise. _No way! Gray's a dragon slayer too? That's so cool! Just how many dragon slayers are in this guild?_

The combined attack hit the offending group dead center, making a huge explosion and a plume of dust.

Lucy gasped. "You idiots! Happy was still there!" She yelled.

Aki waved her off. "Don't worry about it, Gray and I can choose who our dragon slayer magic affects."

"Oh... alright then." Lucy responded.

When the dust cleared, the entire group of weirdos had been knocked out. Happy looked relieved.

"Now I won't taste weird!" He proclaimed.

Aki laughed and took him off the rotisserie. "I guess you won't buddy." She said.

The group decided to head back to the guild now, since they had nothing else to do. While they were walking though, Lucy had come up with a few more questions.

"Gray?" She said.

Gray raised an eyebrow and turned to her. "Yeah?"

"Are you looking for your dragon too?"

Gray shook his head. "No, I wasn't taught dragon slayer magic from a dragon like Aki was."

Lucy looked confused. "Then how?"

Gray was about to speak up, but Aki stopped him. "I'll explain it." Aki said. Gray nodded.

"You see Lucy, there are two kinds of dragon slayers. First generation, and second generation. The first generation dragon slayers have been taught their magic from real dragons. Second generation dragon slayers have had a dragon lacrima implanted in them." Aki explained.

Lucy nodded. "So Gray is a second generation dragon slayer, and you're first generation?" She asked.

Aki and Gray nodded at the same time.

"But Gray, you must have some kind of other magic if you had your dragon slayer magic implanted in you." Lucy said.

"I do. I can also use ice make magic." He said.

"Then why didn't you use that at all during our mission?" Lucy questioned.

Gray sighed. "All the combat qualities of ice make magic are heavily out classed by ice dragon slayer magic, so there's really no point." He explained.

"What do you mean by 'combat qualities'?" Lucy asked.

"I mean attacks. Spells that are meant to do damage to an opponent." He said.

"Then what do you even use your ice make for?"

"Other things, like making bridges, or shields and walls."

Lucy nodded, accepting his answer. "That sounds reasonable I guess. Does Aki have any other magic?"

Aki heard this and laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. Gray smirked. "I think this is one that she should answer herself."

"Hehe... uh, yeah. Well, I do use another kind of magic, but I sorta made it up myself." Aki said, prompting a gasp from Lucy.

"You invented a kind of magic!? That's amazing Aki!" She said, smiling at her.

Aki shrugged. "I guess, but it's not very useful."

Lucy looked confused. "Well what is it?"

"I call it resistance magic. Basically it just lets me ignore annoying things like poison, possession, or slowing magic. But there's one main reason why I made it." She said.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "And what reason is that?"

"TO STAY AWAKE WHEN THAT BASTARD MYSTOGAN COMES!" She yelled.

Gray laughed. "Yeah... but Aki, we haven't even seen Mystogan while you've had it."

Aki suddenly became depressed. "I know..." She said, exasperated.

Lucy tilted her head to the side. "Well I think it's useful, Aki. And who's Mystogan? Oh! And Gray! How did you get your dragon lacrima? I would assume those are hard to find." She asked.

Gray and Aki looked at each other, both gaining sad expressions. Aki decided to speak first.

"Mystogan is one of Fairy Tail's S-Class mages. He's probably either the strongest or second strongest person in the guild, not including master Makarov." She explained.

"Why do you need a special kind of magic to stay awake when you see him?"

"He uses a powerful sleeping spell whenever he comes into the guild. So far, the only people that have been able to actually see him are Makarov and Laxus. Nobody knows why he uses the spell, but it sure is annoying." Aki said.

Lucy looked like she was about to speak up, but Gray cut her off. "Before you ask, Laxus is the other guy contending for strongest with Mystogan."

"Oh."

Gray continued. "As to where I got my dragon lacrima... I got it from a friend..." He said in a sad tone. Lucy noticed Aki also looked sad, looking at the ground in silence.

Lucy decided it would be best not to ask further questions about the 'friend' Gray was talking about. The rest of the trip was completely silent.

IN MAGNOLIA TOWN

Team Dragon had finally made it to Magnolia town. The journey had taken a good while since they had decided not to take the train, for obvious reasons. The trio walked along the streets, with Happy perched atop Aki's shoulder, eating a fish.

They were almost at the guild hall, when all of a sudden they heard fast footsteps behind them, and a second later they saw a man in a green, furlined jacket sprint past them.

"Oi!" Gray yelled. "Why the hell are you running, Loke?"

Loke stopped abruptly, turning around to face them. "BAD N-NEWS GUYS! E-ERZA'S BACK!" He yelled, before turning back around and running into the guild hall.

Aki and Gray looked at each other, both of them with terrified expressions, before running right after Loke.

Lucy ran after the pair, curious as to why they started running. She opened the doors to the guild only to find it in complete chaos. People ran around everywhere trying to find hiding spots, bumping in to one another as they went. She saw Gray and Aki hiding behind the bar, only their eyes peeking over the counter top.

 _Erza can't be that bad, can she?_ Lucy thought. The only person who didn't seem to be scared was Mirajane, who was standing by the bar cleaning the glasses. Lucy decided to ask her about it.

"Hey Mirajane, why is everyone so scared of Erza?" Lucy asked.

Mirajane giggled. "Just call me Mira! And it's because Erza could be considered the strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail right now!"

Lucy gasped. _She must be as scary as Aki said!_ "Wow! She must be really powerful to be able to get this reaction from the guild!"

Mirajane giggled again. "Yep!"

Suddenly, loud, clanking footsteps could be heard outside the guild hall. The entire guild stood there frozen. The doors burst open, revealing a silhouette holding a massive object. Then the silhouette came into the light, revealing a young woman with long, red hair, steel armour, a blue skirt, and knee high boots.

"I've returned. Where is master Makarov?" Erza said.

Mirajane smiled and waved. "Welcome back! Master is at the guild meeting right now."

Erza nodded. "Fine."

Lucy was shocked at the appearance of Erza. _I can't believe one person is able to shut them all up!_

But she was snapped out of her thoughts by one of the guild members who had mustered up the courage to ask Erza about the giant horn she had brought with her.

"This is the horn of a monster I killed. The locals decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Do you have a problem with it?"

The guy who asked the question waved his hands frantically. "Nonono! No problem at all!"

Erza nodded. "Good." Then she turned back to the rest of the guild. "Listen up!" She yelled. "While I was on the road, I heard Fairy Tail has been causing some problems! Now, master may not care, but I do!"

Suddenly she pointed started pointing at various guild members.

"Cana, stop drinking so much! Vijeeter, take the dancing outside! Wakaba, get rid-"

"Oh, come now, Erza, they can't be that bad." They heard a voice say. Everyone gasped. Someone just cut off Erza? WHILE she was giving her speech? Did someone have a death wish?

All of a sudden, they saw spiky white hair phase right of the ground in front of Erza, followed by a masked face, overcoat, sweatpants, and bandaged shins and feet.

Erza's eyes went wide as dinner plates, as did everyone else's, minus Lucy. Kakashi gave them a peace sign and eye smiled.

"Yo!"


	17. CH-17: Return!

"Yo!"

The entire guild was still silent, still shocked that after six years, one of their members had just returned out of nowhere, even if they didn't really know said member. Mirajane actually dropped her platter of drinks, making a huge clatter among the silence.

After a few seconds of absolute quiet, they heard a sigh from right above Kakashi, and this time saw shoes first, then a pair of jeans, followed by a red coat. Natsu floated down from the ceiling, arms crossed, smirking. The bottom portion of his coat fluttered upwards as he descended down to hover right beside Kakashi.

"Damn, Kakashi, looks like they don't remember us!" Natsu said, still smirking.

Aki finally snapped out of her stunned silence. "NATSU! KAKASHI! YOU'RE BACK! I KNEW YOU DIDN'T DIE!" She yelled, smiling brightly.

Gray smirked. "About time you got here Natsu, Kakashi." He said.

Erza's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. She was visibly trembling, and her eyes were still wide.

Lucy was incredibly confused at the new appearance. _Why the hell is everyone so surprised to see them? Just how long have they been gone? And how come I've never heard of them in the Sorcerer Weekly?_ She wondered, completely perplexed.

She leaned over to Mirajane, who she noticed still had a shocked expression. "Mirajane," She whispered. "Who are they?"

Mirajane shook her head to snap herself out of the little trance she was in. "Those two right there are Natsu and Kakashi. They've been gone for the past six years on a decade quest, so most people thought they were dead." Mirajane explained.

Lucy gasped. _SIX YEARS?! That's insane! No wonder everyone here is shocked to see them so suddenly!_

Suddenly the entire guild erupted in cheers. Even the people who didn't really know them cheered, welcoming them back to the guild.

"Good to see ya guys!" Yelled Macao, raising his drink as if to give them a cheers.

Wakaba elbowed Macao in the ribs. "Heh, told ya they'd come back!" He yelled.

Normally, this would be around the time where Makarov would attempt to back flip up to the second floor and tell everyone to start partying, but since he didn't seem to be here right now, Aki decided to take the role.

She whispered something to Gray, who nodded, and lifted her onto his shoulders, much to the surprise of Natsu and Kakashi. Aki let out a little plume of fire into the air, getting the attention of everyone in the hall.

"OI! NATSU AND KAKASHI ARE FINALLY BACK! YOU PEOPLE MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN THEM ALL TOO WELL, BUT TO GRAY, ERZA, AND I, THEY'RE SOME OF OUR BEST FRIENDS!" She yelled. "NOW, FAIRY TAIL MAY NOT BE THE MOST GRACEFUL GUILD, BUT WE STILL KNOW HOW TO BE PLENTY FRIENDLY! SO LET'S WELCOME BACK TEAM GHOST WITH BRIGHT FAIRY TAIL SMILES!" She shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

The crowd started to cheer in praise for Aki's speech. Who knew a sixteen year old girl could be so moving? Did she pick it up from Makarov? Whistles and claps could be heard in the guild for the next three minutes at least!

But Aki wasn't done. "THIS CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Aki proclaimed, once again raising her fist in the air. Gray let Aki off his shoulders, and they immediately dragged Natsu and Kakashi over to their regular table.

Meanwhile, the guild was partying hard. And that's saying something, considering which guild it is. Mirajane had actually left the bar unattended, instead opting to go talk to her old friends. The problem with this is _the bar is unattended_. In Fairy Tail. During a party.

The taps never stopped running. Beer poured out of bar like rivers, creating a cesspool of various beverages on the floor beneath it. Cana had her barrels going on overtime, keeping at least two in her off hand at all times. Cups were everywhere, and nobody really knew who's was who's, so people just drank from whichever glass was closest. The brawls started almost immediately seeing as how Erza was completely distracted with the new arrivals.

WITH NATSU AND KAKASHI

Natsu and Kakashi sat at the head of the table, facing the rest of the group with their arms crossed. Said group was comprised of Aki, Gray, Erza, Jet, Droy, Levy, Mirajane, and Elfman. Most of them had plenty of things to say and questions to ask, but nobody knew where to even start. This lead to an awkward silence.

Kakashi decided enough was enough, having seen enough genin teams do this exact thing. "So... How's it been since we left?" He asked, hoping to provoke some conversation.

Aki was eager to answer. "It's been great! I mastered more of my dragon slayer spells, I helped Gray with his dragon slayer spells, and I even made up my own magic!" She proclaimed excitedly.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And just what kind of magic did you create? And what the hell has happened between you and Gray since we've been gone?" He asked, getting a laughing reaction from the rest of the table, excluding Aki and Gray, who turned away from each and blushed.

"N-nothing happened... WE JUST DECIDED TO BE FRIENDS OK?!" She said, maybe a little too quickly. But her red face told the real story here.

Her blush soon faded, replaced by an immensely prideful expression. "Aaaaaaaaaand... I created resistance magic!" She exclaimed, giving them both a thumbs up.

"It allows me to... well, resist things like poison, slowing, possession, AND SLEEP MAGIC!" She finished with a yell.

Natsu and Kakashi winced at the loud noise. Natsu looked confused. "Something I'm missing here? Or..."

The others sighed, and Gray decided to explain. "This guy named Mystogan joined up with the guild a little after you guys left."

Kakashi frowned. "I don't see how this affects Aki in any way."

Gray continued. "Well, the guy uses a powerful sleeping magic on everyone in the guild before he even walks through the doors. The only people so far who have seen him are Master Makarov and Laxus."

Aki interjected. "BUT THAT'S GONNA CHANGE SOON!" She yelled.

Kakashi rubbed his chin. "Seems kind of suspicious to be honest, but I guess I can't talk, now can I?" He said, eye smiling at the end.

Natsu shook his head. "Nope, you can't." He said.

The table was silent for a few seconds, each person trying to remember the questions they had for the returning team. But before they could speak, Natsu broke the silence.

"Hey, does anyone know where Mirajane is?" He asked.

Everyone, minus Kakashi, was heavily confused for a few seconds, before laughing, realizing what had happened.

Gray spoke up. "Natsu... She's right here!" He said, pointing at a smiling Mirajane.

Kakashi and Natsu blinked, trying to comprehend what Gray had just told them. After a few seconds, Kakashi spoke up. "Ok... just what the hell happened?" He asked. Natsu looked down, stroking his chin.

All of a sudden, Natsu's head shot up. "Wait a minute guys, where the hell is Lisanna? I thought she would have been one of the first people to talk to us." He asked, looking around for the missing girl.

As soon as he said her name, every single person at the table looked down in sadness. It was dead quiet. Nobody wanted to break the news to them, especially Natsu. Everyone knew that Lisanna had been one of Natsu's best friends at the guild.

Eventually, Mirajane decided it would be her responsibility. "Natsu... I'm sorry... It shouldn't have happened... I- I just sh-shouldn't have..."

Natsu and Kakashi suddenly had a sense of dread, realizing what had happened somewhat. "Mirajane..." Kakashi began.

"What happened to Lisanna?" Natsu finished, voice barely above a whisper.

Mirajane tried to answer, she really did. But it was too much. She broke down into tears, falling to the floor on her knees. Elfman took a deep breath, and answered.

"Lisanna died."

Natsu and Kakashi already somewhat knew what had happened, but the news spoken as words hit them like a bullet train. Natsu almost broke down like Mirajane.

 _AGAIN! FUCKING AGAIN THIS HAPPENED! WHY MUST I ALWAYS LOSE THE ONES CLOSEST TO ME!? AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN EVEN DO ABOUT IT! IF I JUST DIDN'T GO ON THAT STUPID MISS- Wait a minute. There is something I can do._

Natsu looked up, looking determined as ever. He looked straight at Kakashi, as if he were silently speaking words. Kakashi seemed to catch on to whatever Natsu was communicating, as he nodded.

The crowd watched in confusion as Natsu closed his eyes in deep concentration, clasping his hands together in a prayer looking formation. They watched in half confusion and half confusion as he began releasing huge amounts of energy.

"Lisanna isn't dead."

The table went silent. Mirajane stopped crying and looked up at him with wide eyes. Everyone else just stared at him as if he were crazy.

"N-Natsu..." Mirajane said in a shaky voice. "I-I know she m-meant a lot to y-you, but she _is_ d-dead... I watched her die..."

Natsu shook his head. "No. I would be able to sense her soul in the underworld. Since it isn't there, that means she is 100% alive. However, I cannot sense her anywhere within this world, which is very strange. It could only mean she somehow ended up in another dimension."

Lucy gasped. "YOU CAN SENSE SOULS?!" She yelled.

Natsu nodded. "Yes, I can."

"Is there a way to get her back?" Asked Mirajane.

Natsu shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. If we knew where the alternate dimension is, me or Kakashi could open a portal to get her back, but since we don't, we're just going to have to wait for an opportunity. After all, since she got sent there, there is one hundred percent a way for us to, we just don't know how yet." He explained.

Mirajane wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Thanks Natsu. It means a lot knowing she isn't dead, and that someday, we can get her back!" She said.

Elfman smiled and looked up, thinking. _So you aren't dead... Lisanna. I can finally make it up to you!_ He thought with determination.

Gray and Aki high fived, smiling brightly. They were all glad that the little girl the guild thought of as a little sister was still alive and well.

A few minutes later, after the shocking news had worn off, they remembered why they were originally even there, and got back to the topic of Natsu and Kakashi.

"So what the hell took you so long?" Yelled Aki.

Erza nodded. "Yes. I would also like to know." She stated.

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Well... Actually the mission only took us two or three months to finish." He said, causing everyone at the rest of the table to face fault.

"THEN WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS?!" They all yelled at the same time, causing Natsu to wince at the loud sound.

"Kakashi and I decided to travel around Fiore." Natsu said.

"Just where did you go?" Asked Gray.

Natsu shrugged. "Pretty much everywhere I guess. We just wanted to learn a little more about Fiore, since we aren't from here."

"So... did you learn any knew tricks?" Asked Aki excitedly.

Natsu nodded. "We both did. I came up with a few new dragon slayer moves, and some other things with my other abilities. Kakashi spent the entire time mastering this new form of requip magic that he invented."

This prompted a reaction from the person in knights armour. Her head snapped towards Kakashi, eyes brimming with curiosity. Lucy once again leaned over to Mirajane. "Mira what's requip magic?" She whispered.

Mirajane turned her head and whispered back. "It's a kind of magic that allows you to change weapons, and in rare cases armour, magically. You'll see it in action if you ever see Erza or Kakashi fight."

Lucy wondered just how the hell switching weapons and armour could make you the most powerful woman in Fairy Tail, but she decided not to question it.

"What kind of requip did you invent, Kakashi?" Erza asked.

Kakashi eye smiled. "You'll see when we go on jobs, don't worry about it." He said.

Erza huffed in frustration, but then smiled. "I'm just glad you guys are back." She said, causing everyone else at the table to nod.

But Aki wasn't done yet. "YOU LEARNED NEW DRAGON SLAYER MOVES? WHICH ONES? WHAT ARE THEY CALLED? CAN YOU TEACH ME?!" She asked all in a row, not even waiting for Natsu's reply.

Natsu waited for her to finish before answering. "I learned three new moves, invented by yours truly. And yes, I'll teach you them." He answered, making Aki jump in the air with a shout of triumph.

He turned towards Gray. "You can come along too, if you want. I'm fairly certain that one of the spells you would be able to adapt to ice dragon slayer magic." He said. Gray nodded, wondering what kind of new move Natsu had come up with.

All of a sudden though, Erza slammed her fist on the table with a huge crash, causing them all to jump in surprise.

"No training yet! There's a problem we have to deal with first!" Erza stated.

Kakashi sighed. "And what seems to be the problem?" He asked.

Erza looked dead serious. "On my way back to the guild, I overheard some people in a bar. They were talking about a flute called Lullaby. They also said that they had to return it to their master, Erigor. At the time, I didn't realize who it was, but I remembered a day later that he's the guild master and ace, of the dark guild Eisenwald." She said.

Natsu and Kakashi's heads snapped up at the mention of Lullaby. They looked at each other, before looking back to Erza. Kakashi spoke up. "Yes, I agree. This must be dealt with immediately." He said.

Mirajane raised an eyebrow. She noticed how they sat up once they heard the word 'Lullaby'. "So what's 'Lullaby', Kakashi?" She asked.

"It's an ancient death magic, created by the dark wizard Zeref. It takes the form of a flute, and all who hear it's song die instantaneously." He responded, causing them all to gasp.

Erza looked furious. "WE MUST STOP THEM!" She roared. "Aki, Gray, I'm going to need your help on this one. Natsu, Kakashi, if you would also come, that would be greatly appreciated." She said.

Natsu nodded, and Kakashi eye smiled. "Of course." He said.

Erza smiled. "Good. Then meet me at the train station, tomorrow at seven. Don't be late."


	18. CH-18: Copying the Copy Ninja?

**Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but I finally finished the newest chapter! (Longest one yet!) I tried to include more GrayxAki and KakashixErza moments, but it's actually harder than it looks, and this is my first story, so if you have any tips as to how I could build up their relationships better it would be greatly appreciated!  
I also tried to portray how Natsu has two sides to him, the 'joking' side, and the 'serious' side, I don't know how well I did it though, sorry if it just turned out cringy. On a side note, for the pairing, I was thinking maybe NatsuxMavis? I have a bunch of cool ideas on how I could pull it into the story, but I'm not gonna say as of now because it would ruin the surprise!**

 **Anyways, enjoy the chapter**

In Magnolia station, Gray and Aki sat on a wooden bench in their regular clothes. Gray wore his white trench coat and green pants with a leather sachel over his shoulder. Aki had her navy blue tailcoat with gold trimmings, and jean short-shorts. Beside them sat a tired looking Lucy, who had plue happily sitting upon her lap. The trio had yet to see anything of Natsu, Kakashi, or even Erza, who had told them to be there that early.

"Man," Aki started. "These guys must be some big news if Erza needs help." She said to Gray. Gray nodded, before closing his eyes and leaning his head back, relaxing.

"Yeah, no kidding." He responded.

Lucy looked over at them in confusion. "Is Erza really that strong?" She asked. She didn't understand how they could be surprised that someone would ask for help for a job.

"Mhm," Gray responded. "She's freakishly powerful, and by far the strongest woman in Fairy Tail."

Lucy's eyes widened. "Strongest woman in Fairy Tail!? Wow! I can't wait to see her fight!" She exclaimed. _Must be why Mirajane said this was the strongest team in Fairy Tail._ She thought. _When I saw Gray and Aki fight, I thought they were super strong, but if Gray's saying that Erza is freakishly powerful, I can't even imagine how strong she must be!_

Just as she was thinking that, she began to hear loud, clanking footsteps approaching. She turned her head to the incoming noise, only to be greeted by a ten foot tall stack of luggage, which was almost as long. It was being pulled along by Erza herself, who acted as if it weighed about as much as a feather.

She pulled her cart alongside their bench and stopped, looking down at them. "I see that most of us are already here. Excellent." She said, looking over their group. Suddenly, she stopped on Lucy, making said girl shake nervously at her intense stare.

"Hello there, I think I saw you at the guild yesterday. I'm Erza Scarlet." She said, holding out a armour clad hand.

Lucy tentatively shook her hand. "Y-yeah, hi, I'm Lucy." She said back. "Mirajane asked me to come on this mission, to get more experience."

This seemed to strike some sort of recognition with Erza, who raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're the one who struck down a powerful spirit with one finger. It'll be great to have someone like you on board!" She responded.

Lucy chuckled nervously. "H-hehe, yeah..."

Then Erza frowned. "Now we just need to wait for Natsu and Kakashi." She said, clearly disappointed with them being late.

A couple minutes later, Kakashi floated right out of the group, standing behind the bench. He waved at them lazily. "Yo." He said.

Erza gained a small tick mark and huffed. "You're late. Where's Natsu?"

"Right here." Said a voice, coming from right beside Aki. A second later, Natsu just appeared out of nowhere, sitting beside her.

They decided not to question it, just accepting that Natsu could do things like that. Of course, Kakashi knew what was going on, but he decided not to say anything. Erza nodded at him. "Good. Now, we can go. I'll explain the specifics while we're on the train.

A FEW MINUTES LATER, ON THE TRAIN

The makeshift team sat in one of the train cabins. On one side sat Natsu, Kakashi, and Erza, on the other side sat Aki, Gray, and Lucy. Of course, Happy and Plue rested on Aki and Lucy's laps respectively.

Aki, who wasn't doing so well, groaned in frustration and pain. "H-how do you not get m-motion sick?"

Natsu shrugged. "I dunno." He responded simply.

But knowing Erza, she had the perfect solution. "Aki, come sit beside me." She said, beckoning Aki.

Gray furiously shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I've seen this before, she's staying here." He said, wrapping his arm around Aki's shoulders protectively.

Erza rubbed her temples in frustration. "Then what do you propose we do?" She asked him, clearly annoyed.

Gray seemed stumped. "Uh... hmm... well-" But before he could fully answer, Aki shut her eyes tight and leaned into Gray, resting her head against his chest and wrapping her arms around him. She curled her legs up on the bench and they heard her sigh contentedly. Gray blushed an even brighter shade of red than Erza's hair. "Th-thanks, G-Gray..." He heard Aki mumble.

After a few seconds he sighed, and returned the hug, holding her close. In a few minutes, Aki was fast asleep, still sleeping and holding on to Gray.

Natsu smirked. "Yep, just friends alright."

Gray shot a nasty look at him, but ultimately decided to drop the matter. He turned to Erza. "So, I think it's about time you filled us in."

Erza nodded. "Ok." She said, before taking a deep breath. "We're going after the dark guild Eisenwald. Their guild master, Erigor the Reaper, is a dark mage who only accepts assassination mission, earning him his moniker. I've heard news that they're currently in Onibus, which is where we're headed."

Lucy gasped. "W-what? Uhm, I think I should go back..."

Kakashi eye smiled at her. "Don't worry about it, Lucy. Erza here is a super powerful S-Class mage." He said, causing Erza to blush.

"Y-yeah," Erza began, still flustered at Kakashi's praise. "Don't w-worry about it. Nothing w-will happen as long as I-I'm here." She said before finally gaining her composure. "And besides, I doubt I'll have to do anything with Natsu and Kakashi here. All modesty aside, I don't hold a candle to either of them."

Lucy's eyes widened in shock, but Gray had no reaction. "WHAT?! JUST HOW STRONG ARE YOU GUYS?!" She yelled.

Kakashi and Natsu shrugged and spoke at the same time. "Fairly strong."

Seeing as how they were too modest to say anything, Erza decided to take this into her own hands. "Put it this way, Lucy. On Natsu's first day at the guild, he beat me with his eyes closed. Kakashi beat our Guild's Ace, who's as strong or stronger than master, using only one kind of magic." She said.

Lucy stared at them in shock. _How the hell are they so strong? Kakashi looks the same age as us, and Natsu looks even younger!_

Lucy had a lot of questions lined up by now. "If Kakashi beat the guild ace, then shouldn't he be the guild ace? What kind of magic do you two use? Which one of you two is stronger?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't really feel like having the title of 'ace'." He said, causing them all to sweat drop. "What kind of magic do I use?..." He continued, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I use quite a few, but my favourite is requip." He said.

"Like Erza?" Lucy asked.

Kakashi tilded his head. "Sort of. Yes, I do use requip like she does, but she uses a kind of requip called **Requip: The Knight**. This kind of requip allows her to change her armour mid-battle, which gives her certain abilities like increased speed, or flying." He explained.

Lucy nodded. "Okay, but what's yours then?" Erza looked towards him expectantly. "Yes, what kind of requip do you use?" She asked.

Kakashi eye smiled. "I call it **Requip: The Magician**. I named it after common street magicians you would see back where Natsu and I come from."

Lucy tilted her head. "What do you mean, 'where Natsu and I come from', aren't you from Fiore?" She asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, we aren't. Where we're from there's no such thing as magic, so people would do tricks such as slight of hand to fool people, giving the illusion that something abnormal had taken place."

Lucy shrugged, accepting his answer. Erza on the other hand wanted to know more. "So what does it do?" She asked enthusiastically leaning forwards.

Kakashi sweat dropped, scratching the side of his head. "Well... Basically, I place various pieces of paper which I named 'Requip Tags' all over the ground. Doing this allows me to move myself through the requip space instantly to any tag I chose. It's quite handy in battle, most of the time I can clear out whole groups before they even notice me." He explained. _If only you were still here, sensei... We could finally have an even battle, eh?_

Erza looked stunned. She suddenly burst out, speaking words so fast that nobody could even understand what she was saying."OhmygoshIneverthoughtofusingrequiplikethatholycrapthatsamazing!" Kakashi blinked and nodded, trying to give the appearance that he was actually listening.

Lucy smiled. "That's amazing Kakashi! You came up with that all on your own?"

Kakashi looked out the window, growing silent for a few moments. "O-oh crap... Uh, sorry Kakashi, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories..." Lucy said.

Erza turned sharply towards Lucy and was about to let loose when Kakashi broke out of his silence and spoke. "It's fine, Lucy, I was just thinking for a moment. In regards to your question, yes and no."

"What? What do you mean?" Lucy asked, confused.

"Yes, I did come up with the magic on my own. No, it wasn't all me because I based it off my old sensei's technique." Kakashi explained.

"Well I look forward to seeing it." Erza replied.

AT ONIBUS STATION

The team exited the train, getting out onto the station only to realize that they had forgotten something very important, or rather, someone very important.

"WAIT! WHERE'S GRAY AND AKI?" Yelled Lucy.

Natsu and Kakashi lazily jabbed a thumb at the now leaving train, not even looking. Happy stood on the edge of the tracks. "Aki departed!" He exclaimed.

Erza looked horrified. "I forgot them while I was talking! I am such a fool. One of you, hit me." Erza said.

They all sweat dropped, including little Plue. _That's a little much..._

ON THE TRAIN

Gray was quite annoyed. _Those idiots forgot Aki and I! I swear, when I get my hands on them, I'm gonna-_

"Oh? A Fairy Tail wizard and his cute little girlfriend?"

Gray snapped his head up at the voice, coming face to face with a guy who wore white clothing, and had black hair that looked like a pineapple. The guy had a cocky grin, and looked like he was smirking at them.

Suddenly, the guy raised his leg up in an attempt to kick them, but Gray was faster. He stamped his foot on the ground, creating a makeshift pillar of ice underneath the man's foot, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall over.

Gray gently set Aki down on the bench, and got up to face their attacker. Said guy was slowly getting up, dusting off his white coat. "Y'know what you legal guild wizards are to us? Flies. I'm Kageyama of Eisenwa- Why the hell are you taking your clothes off?!"

Gray looked down at himself. True enough, his shirt was off, leaving only his green pants. "Oh. Well, who cares! Now I'm gonna show you what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail!" He yelled, rushing at him. **ICE DRAGON'S HAMMER ARM!** He called out, forming a cylinder of turquois ice around his fist.

Kageyama raised his arms in a flimsy defense, having no time to use any magic. Gray's attack hit him like a truck, sending him flying back, crashing through multiple cabins and making a loud crashing noise.

Gray would have followed up on his attack, but it just so happened that the loud speakers came on.

 _*WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE! THE EMERGENCY STOP WAS A FALSE ALARM, WE WILL BEGIN MOVING AGAIN SHORTLY!*_

Gray decided against continuing the fight, choosing instead to grab Aki and jump out of the nearest window. He hit the ground with a loud thud, and looked around. A few second later, he saw a car slowly making it's way over to where they were.

The car pulled over beside them, and Erza dropped out of the driver's seat, running over to them.

Gray stood up, still carrying Aki piggyback style. "Oi!" He yelled. "You left us on that train!"

Erza looked down. "I apologize! I'm just glad you're okay." She said, trying to bring Gray into a one arm hug.

But luckily for Gray, Aki woke up right then. Gray turned his head around to talk to her, but not realizing where she was, Aki tried to stand up, pulling them both down backwards.

Aki landed on her back with a thud, and soon after Gray landed directly on top of her, face first. They were centimeters away from each other, staring. Gray could feel his face heating up, as could Aki, and after realizing what had happened, Gray jumped off of her, dusting himself off, before reaching down to help her up.

He turned around, and to his horror, saw a smirking Natsu, and Kakashi with his eyebrow raised. Of course, Erza was completely oblivious as to what had just happened. Gray shook his head, clearly frustrated.

"Let's just go, some weirdo from Eisenwald attacked us on the train." He said.

Erza's eyes widened. "WHAT?! Those are the exact people we're chasing! Why did you let him get away?!" She yelled.

Now Gray was angry. "THE TRAIN WAS ABOUT TO START MOVING! WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?! JUST LEAVE AKI THERE TO SUFFER!?" He yelled.

Erza blinked. She had never seen Gray act like this. "O-of course n-not... I-It's j-just..."

Kakashi decided now was the time to interject. "As Gray said, let's just go."

OSHIBANA STATION

When they reached Oshibana town, they saw smoke rising from somewhere in the middle of the city. Realizing it was coming from the train station, Erza put the car into overdrive to get there as quick as possible. As they arrived, they saw a huge cluster of people gathered outside the train station. There were several train workers in front of the masses with megaphones, blaring whatever their employers had told them to say.

Erza pulled their car up next to the train station and hopped out. Immediately, she set to work questioning the poor workers, although it was more like interrogating. The group just sighed as Erza began knocking out the workers one by one, should they not meet to standards.

 _Man,_ Lucy thought. _Just when I thought there was someone normal in the guild... Well, I guess Natsu and Kakashi aren't too bad, but who knows?_

Kakashi gripped his forehead, shaking it slowly. He walked over to where Erza was brutally head butting the poor workers. Laying an arm on her shoulder, he pulled her back.

"Erza, Let me handle this one, okay?" He whispered in her ear. Erza nodded begrudgingly, and allowed Kakashi to walk past her.

Kakashi approached the next worker and waved at him, putting the guy at ease from the recent trauma. "Hey there! We're some mages from Fairy Tail, could you please tell us what's going on inside?" He asked.

The man sighed in relief and nodded. "Yeah, sure. A bunch of dark guild creeps came outta nowhere and took over the station! A group of rune knights went in earlier, but we haven't seen 'em since."

Kakashi eye smiled and nodded. "Thank you, we'll be sure to have this dealt with shortly. I'd advise for you and your colleagues to clear the surrounding area."

"Alright, we will, good luck!" The man said.

Kakashi waved as he walked back to the group. "Thanks!" He yelled back at the guy.

Arriving at the group, Kakashi gave them the basic rundown. "A dark guild, Eisenwald I assume, has taken over the station. I told the worker to get everyone out of here, so we don't have to worry about civilians."

The group nodded briefly before all running inside. They walked across the echoing, marble floors until they reached a flight of stairs. The bodies of dead rune knights littered the cold steps like confetti, causing the group to freeze in shock, save Natsu and Kakashi.

The duo walked up the stairs non-chalantly for a few seconds before realizing that the rest of the group wasn't following them. Kakashi turned around, clearly confused. "Coming?" He shouted at the them.

The group remained silent for a few moments, taking in the fact that there were corpses just twenty feet away from them. Eventually, Lucy broke out. "TH-THEY'RE DEAD!" She yelled, pointing at the dead warriors, eyes wide.

Natsu turned a lazy eye towards one of the dead bodies, inspecting it for a few moments before looking back at the rest of the team. "Yeah, I can tell. Now, are we going to go fight these dark mages or not?"

The rest of the rag-tag team blinked, surprised. _Are they just oblivious?_ Erza thought. And as if Aki could read her mind, she continued. _Or do they just not care?..._

Realizing that Natsu and Kakashi were just going to leave without them, they quickly caught up, meticulously avoiding the corpses.

The team arrived in the main hall of the train station. It was looked at least ten times bigger than normal being so empty. The tiled floor pattern continued into the room, before stopping at the plain white walls. Pillars surrounded the room, coming out a few meters from the walls holding up a balcony. There was a run down train on the tracks, but in front of that was the entirety of the dark guild Eisenwald.

"Welcome to the fun house, Fairy Tail flies!" They heard a voice shout from behind the group. Suddenly, they saw a man with spiky white hair and ragged skirt fly out from behind the dark guild, hovering a few meters above them. He had a malicious sneer upon his face, but what completed the whole look was the nasty looking scythe he carried.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the guy. He noticed how the guy was floating. Just like him. He noticed how he had a scythe, albeit not as cool, but still. Just like him. And finally he noticed his hair. Just like Kakashi.

"Hey!" He yelled, causing the attention of the entire room to shift onto him. "Are you trying to copy Kakashi and I or something? I mean you've got the whole flying thing down, but that scythe needs some improvement. And I mean COME ON! You call that Kakashi's hair? Were you even trying?!" He yelled, completely breaking the atmosphere, and causing everyone to face fault.

Erigor swiped his scythe furiously and snarled. "You think I'm trying to copy _you_? Some weak Fairy flies? Why would I do that, when I'm already ten times more powerful!" He yelled. Suddenly, he produced the Lullaby flute from... somewhere? He brandished the flute above his head and grinned. "With this, I'll finally make them all pay! All the foolish people who live on as others have their rights stolen away shall be punished for their insolence! And who better to do just that than Erigor the Reaper! Who knows? Maybe if I play it loud enough the whole city will hear!" He shouted at them, howling with laughter.

Suddenly, Natsu had a revelation. Well, two to be honest. "Wait a minute! If you play the flute, won't you hear it too? And what if people wear ear plugs? Wait! that solves the earlier proble-"

"SILENCE!" Yelled Erigor, now furious. "I leave this to you... Show them the terror of the dark guild Eisenwald!" He yelled, before disappearing in a gust of wind.

Erza grimaced. "Gray! Aki! Go take down Erigor!" She yelled.

"AYE!" They both yelled, running off. Out of the corner of her eye, Erza saw two Eisenwald mages run off after them. But she'd have to leave that up to Gray and Aki to deal with.

This seemed to give the Eisenwald members quite the confidence boost.  
"Only leaving four mages here? Too easy!"

"You underestimating us, Fairy flies?"

"We'll show you power of Eisenwald!"

Before anyone else could speak, Erza leapt into battle brandishing a plain looking sword. She released a mighty swing, taking out at least ten of the unlucky Eisenwald members. Suddenly, she leaped yet again, this time requipping a spear. She swung in a wide arc, disabling a chunk of the dark mages.

"Who the hell is she? I've never seen someone able to requip as fast as her!"

"No way... It couldn't be..."

"I-IT'S TH-THE TITANIA!"

Erza smirked as she heard her moniker. Leaping back to her team she requipped her spear into twin short swords and got into a ready stance. _Damn,_ she thought. _There's still so many of them... I'll just take these psychos out in one shot._

Erza put away her weapons, confusing many of the Eisenwald members. She spread her arms out and was about to change into the Heaven's Wheel armour when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Kakashi's bright eye smile.

"Don't worry about this one," He said. "Natsu and I can handle it. You used too much magic on that car." Erza took a deep breath and nodded, stepping behind them to stand beside Lucy.

"Shouldn't we be helping them at all? I mean, there _are_ a lot of them." Asked Lucy.

Erza shook her head, confusing Lucy. "We don't need to. Just watch." She said, crossing her arms and relaxing. Lucy just shrugged and decided she would listen to her.

Kakashi walked forwards while Natsu floated in a sitting position.  
 **(How Hagoromo sits when Naruto meets him in his mindscape)**  
Getting ready, Kakashi requipped a tanto that gleamed a brilliant white. He readied the blade in front of himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes to reveal one normal sharingan, but the other had green tomoe and black sclera. He waved his tanto in front of him wildly, much to the confusion of the Eisenwald members, who were expecting some sort of attack.

Suddenly, he stopped his sword movements and requipped it away. Staring at the space in front of him with his green eye, he spoke in a clear voice. **DARK ECRITURE: RAIN REQUIP TAGS** When he said the words, purple, runic looking writing appeared in front of him. Requip tags started appearing in the space above the Eisenwald mages, floating down to land around their feet.

One particular fellow decided to pick up one of the strange objects, inspecting it closely. After a few seconds, he shouted to the rest of his guild.

"GUYS! I THINK THIS WAS SOME SORT OF DUMB BLUFF, THESE THINGS DON'T EVEN-"

But he couldn't finish his sentence, because before he could, Kakashi disappeared from his position, leaving a requip tag fluttering where he just was. Looking to the mage who spoke, everyone in the room gasped, minus Natsu, who had seen this plenty of times. The poor guy who was holding the tag was shot backwards at insane speeds, crashing into the back wall with a resounding crack and falling unconscious.

All they could see was a flash of silver.

And just like that Kakashi was back to where he was previously, holding the requip tag he had left behind. The whole room went silent, even Erza and Lucy who had this explained to them before hand.

Natsu sighed. "Let's just get this done with, Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded. "Let's go." He said, disappearing in a flash of silver.

Erza and Lucy watched in amazement as the Eisenwald mages dropped like flies from what seemed like an invisible enemy. Kakashi was just that fast! _I can only imagine what he would be capable of should he incorporate his dragon slayer magic or crash magic into this. The results would be devastating to any foe._

Natsu raised and arm, holding it out in front of him towards the now terrified Eisenwald wizards. I mean who wouldn't be scared? Your entire guild being taken out by someone who's so fast you can't even see him. Pretty spooky stuff!

 **SAND HEADHUNTERS!** Natsu yelled. Sand flowed out of his gourd en masse, only to go straight into the ground behind him. A few seconds later, a hand made of sand came out of the ground next to every single Eisenwald mage, pulling them into the ground up to their necks.

Lucy watched in awe how a seemingly impossible amount of sand poured out of the gourd, and later came right back in. Erza didn't really react due to the fact that she had seen it before. Natsu turned back around and floated back to the group with a deadpan, expressionless face, as if nothing had happened.

A second later, Kakashi flashed into existence right beside Erza, making her jump in surprise with a cute little scream of "Kyaa!".

Natsu sweat dropped at the scene, while Lucy's jaw dropped in shock at Erza acting so feminine. All she had seen up to this point was Erza taking control of the guild, and scaring Aki and Gray. She never imagined Erza like this in her short time of knowing the scarlet knight.

Although during the time on the train, she did get a few clues to Erza's crush on Kakashi. The blush and flustering at Kakashi's complement were at least some sort of indicator.

"Well, I believe it's time we get a move on. Why don't we go see how Gray and Aki are doing?" Kakashi said.

Erza nodded, glad to escape the embarrassing situation. "Indeed. Let's go." She said, marching out of the room towards the main exit.

TEN MINUTES EARLIER, WITH GRAY AND AKI

Gray and Aki ran along the narrow hallways of the train station side by side. Their coats fluttered behind them as they ran, looking for the lone scythe wielder.

"Where the hell could he have gone!?" Yelled Gray.

"I don't know! Maybe outside!?" Aki shouted back.

The pair kept running down the corridor until they reached split. One way lead outside, while the other led to the communications booth. They stopped abrubtly at the fork, taking a brief moment to decide what to do.

"Should we split up?" Gray asked. "He could have gone outside, but he also could have gone to the communications room if he wants to play the damn thing through the loud speakers."

"A-actually, I'd r-rather stick t-together." Said, Aki, blushing furiously. _Good going, Aki!_ She though to herself. _Now you sound like a total wimp!_

Gray broke her out of her thoughts. "Yeah, that sounds good. Why don't we check the communications first, then head outside?"

Aki nodded. "Yeah, sure." She replied.

The duo ran off down the left hallway, not even noticing the abnormal shadow growing on the ceiling above them. The dark spot kept growing until it eventually covered the entire ceiling, blocking the normal white paint.

"Hey Gray..." Aki called out, getting Gray's attention.

"Yeah?"

"Look up."

Gray did just that and came to a screeching halt when he saw the pitch black ceiling above them. He looked at it, clearly confused.

"The hell?! Wasn't the ceili-" Gray tried to say, but was cut off.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW, FAIRY FLIES!" Yelled Kageyama as he burst out of the black ceiling and landed in front of them. **SHADOW KNUCKLE!**

Several translucent black fists rose out of the magic circle that appeared at Kageyama's feet. They twisted and spiraled around each other, making their way towards the two dragon slayers. Gray, who was ahead of Aki by a considerable distance, took the attack point blank, having no time to dodge. He was shot back at least twenty feet and landed right next to Aki, who already have her fists lit up with red flames.

Gray rose up shakily, dusting himself off and coming to a standing position next to Aki. She looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Gray nodded, breathing heavily. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine."

Kageyama smirked at them as another member of Eisenwald ran up beside him, also sporting the cocky grin. "You sure about that, fly?" He said, snickering alongside his fellow dark mage.

But Kageyama decided to take things a step further, hoping to get a better reaction out of the pair, specifically Gray. Unfortunately for him, it would be the mistake of a lifetime.

"Hey, hey, tell ya what, if you give us your pretty little girlfriend over there, we'll let'cha go. I'm sure she'll make an excellent maid for the guild, eh? Maybe more?" Kageyama taunted, sporting a crazed and lustful grin.

As soon as he finished, the temperature in the room dropped by at least fifty degrees. The very shadows themselves began to freeze over, beginning to look like frozen oil. It became so cold that Aki's flames actually dimmed a little bit, unable to stay at full strength due to the freeze. Aki looked beside her at Gray, and was honestly a little scared of what she saw.

He was breathing heavily, looking down at the ground beneath his feet with his long, dark bangs overshadowing his eyes. His fists were clenched, and he was trembling with rage. He began to let out so much magical pressure that the floor beneath him began to crack, and simultaneously freeze.

The two poor Eisenwald members could only shake in fear at what they had unleashed. Kageyama began to backpedal reaaaal fuckin quick. "H-hey man, w-we were ju-just kiddin, y'know?"

Suddenly, Gray's head shot up, and he stared at them with rage filled eyes. He then held one arm in front of him as a magic circle appeared. **ICE DRAGON'S BURIAL!** He yelled.

The arm in front of him promptly turned into an spear-like icicle, extending forwards at breakneck speeds towards the two dark mages. They tried running, but it was to no avail. The icicle spear pierced them both like a needle, going right through both of their stomachs and completely immobilizing them.

"AGHHGHGHGHHG!" They both screamed in agony. "PLEASE! WE WERE JUST JOKING! PLEASE LET US LIVE!" Kageyama yelled.

Aki turned to Gray to see his reaction, and her eyes widened. Gray was _smirking_. _Okay, just what the hell is he doing? Is it all because they threatened to take me?_ Aki wondered.

A second later, the poor dark mages began to scream even louder, causing Aki to look back up at them. The reason for this is that they were now freezing into ice from the point of contact outwards.

The ice spread across their bodies like water, freezing every last cell. Aki stared at the two in shock. _What the hell is this? I didn't even know Gray was capable of something like it! Did he come up with this on his own?_

Almost as soon as the freeze started it was over. The dark mages had been turned completely into ice, still with their horrified expressions. Gray retracted his icicle arm, leaving a huge hole in both their now ice bodies.

As soon as he did this however, he collapsed, unconscious before he even hit the ground. Aki rushed over to his downed form, picking him up and putting him on her back piggyback style. His head limply fell on her shoulder, and his legs dragged uselessly along behind them as Aki ran down the hallway towards the exit.

 _I can't believe Gray just killed those two. Even he was shocked to see the dead rune knights at the stairs, so why did he just start killing all of a sudden?_ She thought. _Although it does feel nice that he would go so far to protect me. After all, I would do the same for him._

OUTSIDE

Aki got outside only to find the rest of the team waiting for her and Gray to return. She ran up to them and knelt down, leaning Gray against her.

"What the hell happened to him?" Asked Erza. The others also looked at Aki, wanting to know the same thing.

Aki shook her head furiously. "IT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW! NATSU CAN YOU HEAL HIM?!" She shouted, shocking them.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, sure. It seems like he used up most of his magic power all at once. Must of been one hell of a spell he used."

He floated over to where the pair sat, and hovered down to their level. He extended a palm out to Gray's stomach and closed his eyes. A yellow glow grew from his palm for a second before suddenly disappearing.

Gray's eyes snapped open and he sat up out of Aki's embrace. He rubbed his eye, as if waking up from a good night's sleep. "Ugh... hey guys... did ya find Erigor?" He said sleepily.

Natsu tilted his head, giving a contemplative look. "Well... yes and no. Yes, we did find him, but he disappeared, leaving behind this strange wind barrier to trap us in here."

Gray was about to respond, but Kakashi cut him off. "But don't worry about it, we have a plan." He said, holding out his hand towards Lucy.

He then requipped two golden keys into his open palm. Lucy gasped. "WHOAH! Two golden zodiac keys?! Where did you get those?" She asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "We found them while we were away. Take them, Natsu and I have no use for celestial keys."

Lucy took the keys and inspected him closely, jumping with joy at two new keys in her arsenal. A few seconds later though, she looked up at them. "Uhm... I don't mean to be rude, but why did you give those to me now of all times?"

"The one named Virgo can create tunnels. She can create a tunnel to get us out of this barrier." Natsu explained.

Lucy nodded, holding out the key in front of her. **OPEN, GATE OF THE MAIDEN! VIRGO!**  
At the sound of a bell, a pink haired girl appeared out nowhere wearing a maid uniform. Lucy immediately took action.

"Virgo! There's no time for a contract right now! Can you dig us a tunnel to get out of here?"

Virgo nodded. "Yes, princess!"

As soon as she said it, she disappeared into the ground leaving a wide tunnel behind her. The team quickly followed her. They soon arrived on the other side of the tunnel, coming up on the other side of the barrier.

"Now then," Kakashi said.

"Let's go reap the reaper." Natsu finished.


	19. CH-19: Back on Team 7

At the annual guild masters conference, all was going well. Various masters of the different guilds mingled about, conversing with one another and eating pre-made appetizers. But on one particular table, a certain short, old man in an orange jester costume sits on the surface, merrily holding up a glass of alcohol.

"And our new member, Lucy! She's quite filled out, don'tcha think?" A slightly drunk Makarov asked his old friends around him. The 'old friends' in question were Master Goldmine and Master Bob.

"Oh Makarov! You simply shouldn't talk about your wizards that way!" Said Master Bob in a feminine voice. Master Goldmine just smirked and shook his head.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but don't ya think you can tone it down a bit? The council's just about to shut you guys down!" Said Goldmine.

Makarov waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever, those morons can go drink themselves to death for all I care! They're just jealous that my wizards are super hot!"

Bob and Goldmine sweat dropped. "Don't you think that's a little hypocritical?..." They both muttered.

* _LETTER FOR MASTER MAKAROV! LETTER FOR MASTER MAKAROV!*_

Makarov held his hand out for the little bird to come land on his open palm. It promptly dropped the letter it had in it's beak and flew away. Makarov held the letter up and traced his finger over the yellow seal it had on the surface. It briefly glowed blue before a magic circle appeared over the letter, projecting an image of Mirajane.

"Hi Master! I'm glad to see you made it to the meeting safely!" Mirajane said.

Makarov jumped up and held the letter out in front of him. "This here is our poster girl, Mirajane! Grab some eye candy boys!" He called out. Sure enough, whistles and cheers were heard from the other guild masters.

"I just wanted to tell you some great news! It may be the greatest thing to ever happen to Fairy Tail!" Yelled the phantom Mirajane, throwing her arms up in celebration.

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Aki, Gray, and Erza have formed a team! It could be the strongest team in all of Fairy Tail!"

After a few seconds of silence, the guild masters looked at Makarov, expecting some kind of celebration, or maybe a smile. Instead, they saw him trembling in fear, spacing out completely.

"W-what? THOSE THREE COULD DESTROY AN ENTIRE CITY!" He yelled, falling over backwards in exasperation.

But he was snapped out of it by the letter, which strangely continued to play. "And that's not all, Master! You'll never guess who else joined the team!"

Makarov stared at the letter, trembling. "P-please be s-someone reasonable..."

Mirajane then stepped out of the projection, disappearing. Makarov frowned in confusion, until Natsu and Kakashi stepped out into the projection.

Phantom Kakashi held up a peace sign. "Yo! We're finally back master! How are you?" The phantom Natsu grinned, but didn't say anything.

The letter then shut off, plunging the room into silence. Every single person in the room stared at Makarov, but strangely, he seemed to have calmed down a considerable amount.

He wiped his brow, breathing deeply. "Phew, at least those two can control the damages."

"Who were those two, Macky?" Asked Bob.

Makarov smiled. "Just a few returning friends."

OSHIBANA STATION

Erza had found the team a magic car, and they were now barreling alongside the train tracks, following Erigor to Clover, where the guild masters conference was being held.

Erza sat in the driver's seat, following a flying Natsu. He didn't look the least bit winded at traveling so fast. He floated in a standing position, arms crossed with one leg bent.

"Are you sure this is where he went?!" Shouted Erza, trying to make her voice heard over the winds.

Natsu turned his head towards her and nodded, not saying a word. Erza turned her eyes back to the tracks in front of her. The SE Plug looked as if it were ready to burst with how much energy she was putting into it, and Erza herself didn't look to good. There were large bags under her eyes, and she was trembling from over exertion. But despite all this, she maintained her insane pace, driving the car at well over 120mph.

In the passengers seat, Gray and Aki sat beside each other on one side, assuming the same pose as on the train. Lucy and Kakashi sat on the other side, with Plue sitting on Lucy's lap, and happy sitting beside Kakashi while Aki rested.

Gray and Lucy were talking about various things, but Kakashi was distracted. He had activated his sharingan, and noticed that Erza's magic container was dangerously low. _What the hell is she doing? At this rate, by the time we find Erigor she'll be completely done!_

Finally deciding to take action, he used Kamui to slip through the car and sit on the roof above Erza.

"Yknow, you're going to practically pass out with how much energy you're using right now." He said.

Erza would have jumped if she could, being completely surprised by the voice. "It doesn't matter. We need to get to Erigor as fast as possible!" She shouted.

Kakashi frowned. "Well as a matter of fact, it does matter." He said, before reaching down and taking the SE Plug off Erza's arm and strapping it onto his. "Because believe it or not, people care about you."

Erza visibly relaxed, seeming less tense than when she still had the SE Plug attached to her arm. Then what Kakashi said hit her, and she blushed furiously, but tried to keep her focus on driving.

"Th-thank you." She said.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Anytime."

Things were silent for a few minutes as Erza focused on controlling the car while Kakashi supplied ample amounts of magical energy. On the inside, things were considerably calmer, having nothing to do except wait until they reached Erigor.

Lucy stared out the window, watching the bleak landscape pass them at high speeds. _I can't believe how strong they are. I thought that Gray and Aki were super powerful, then I met Erza, and now Natsu and Kakashi? And I haven't even seen the limits of their capabilities yet... Do they even have limits?_ Lucy wondered. _And why did they leave for six years? Was it just a vacation? Unlikely. Maybe it was a training trip? It would explain why they're so strong... I guess I'll ask Gray about it._

"Hey Gray," Lucy said, causing Gray to sit up and look at her.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Why did Natsu and Kakashi leave for six years?"

Gray sighed and looked back out the window. "They went on something called a decade quest."

Lucy gasped. "Decade quest?! What's that?"

"It's a quest that's so hard that it's rumored nobody could ever complete one in under a decade." Gray explained.

Lucy's eyes widened. "AND THEY DID IT IN SIX YEARS?!" She shouted.

Gray shook his head. "No."

Lucy tilted her head. "Then wha?..."

"They did it in three months."

Lucy froze. It didn't even seem possible to her. Could someone even _be_ that powerful? To be able to complete a quest that took ten years in only three months? What kind of magic would be capable of doing that?

"H-how?"

Gray shrugged. "Nobody knows. All we know is that the both of them are immensely powerful. Y'know how we told you that Kakashi beat our guild's ace?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, he beat him only using eye magic. Back then, he didn't even have whatever he calls **Requip: The Magician**. The fight was insane. His eye magic allows him to pass through solid objects, so he can basically phase through any attack that gets thrown at him."

Lucy was about to speak up, but Gray cut her off. "And that's not even the craziest part."

"W-wha?" Lucy stuttered out.

"In the last moments of the fight, our ace, Gildarts, sent a huge wave of his magic at Kakashi, who was tangible at the time. Keep in mind that this wave of magic would have been capable of almost destroying entire mountains."

Lucy nodded, continuing to listen to the story. "When it was about to hit him, he summoned this huge, blue skeleton around himself. The skeleton took the wave like it was nothing, then proceeded to knock out Gildarts in _one_ punch."

Lucy leaned back in her seat, trying to comprehend just how powerful the two mages were.

 _Maybe I don't want to see their full potential..._

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

The group arrived in the forest just outside of Clover town. Erza slowed the car down to a stop, and they all got out. They saw Erigor about two hundred meters ahead, sitting down with the flute in hand. Erza ran forwards at a full sprint, sword in hand.

"ERIGOR! STOP THIS AT ONCE!" She yelled.

Erigor turned around in surprise, dropping the flute in the process. Sneering at them, he picked the flute back up and stood up, grabbing his massive scythe in the other hand.

"You're too late, Fairy Flies! Once I play this flute, you're all dead! There's nothing you can do to sto-"

 **Sand Dragon Bullet!** Natsu called out, still floating with his arms crossed. Out of Natsu's gourd came a massive dragon made of sand. It flew high into the sky, bearing it's sand fangs at Erigor before shooting down at him at insane speeds, crushing him into the ground in a huge pile of sand.

Natsu snickered. "Turns out there _was_ something we could do to stop him, eh guys?" The team couldn't help but laugh. The irony was unbelievable.

"Now," Gray said, walking up to the pile of sand. "let's just grab this dumb flute and get outta here." But just as he was reaching for the flute, the ground started shaking, and they heard a loud, demonic voice.

" **I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR COWARDLY WIZARD ANTICS!** "

Gray froze. "What the hell was that!?"

Suddenly, a huge, purple magic circle appeared in the air above the sand, and lightning started to strike the ground beneath it. Gray jumped back to the group.

" **I CAN NO LONGER HOLD BACK! I'LL JUST COME OUT THERE AND DEVOUR YOU MYSELF!** "

The group watched in amazement as a deep purple smoke rose out of flute and rose up, eventually going straight into the magic circle. A second later, a deafening roar could be heard throughout the surrounding area, blowing the trees and grass around with ease.

Then, out of the magic circle came a gigantic tree looking monster. It had three purple eyes and seemed to be made of branches. It was easily as tall as a perfect susanoo, but it didn't seem quite as menacing.

By now, all the guild masters had gathered on a nearby hill to watch. They clustered together, staring at the huge demon in amazement.

"Hey! Look! There's wizards over there!" Shouted one of the guild masters.

The masters looked over to where the guy was pointing, and saw Natsu and the team standing in front of the monster, looking calm as ever. Well, minus Lucy.

Goldmine smirked. "Well, seems Fairy Tail comes to the rescue yet again."

Bob giggled. "Let's see what they can do!"

Back over with the team, Natsu had unslung his gourd, and jammed it into the ground in front of him with the opening facing upwards. He then got into a meditative pose, still floating. He closed his eyes in concentration, and spoke in a neutral voice.

"I'm going to seal it. You guys need to buy me some time while I prepare the technique." He said.

Aki grinned and lit her fists on fire, stepping forwards. "ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!" She yelled, jumping forwards at the monster. Erza and Gray weren't too far behind, also jumping into the fray, with swords and icicles respectively. Kakashi hung back with Natsu, covering him while he prepared the sealing jutsu.

But this only seemed to enrage Lullaby. It let out a massive roar and narrowed it's three eyes at the incoming wizards. " **YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME!? PUNY WIZARDS! I'LL DEVOUR YOUR SOULS!"** It shouted in a raspy, demonic voice. Lullaby then began charging up magical energy in it's mouth, storing it for a few seconds before releasing it in a straight, laser like beam, cutting through the mountains as if they were butter.

The trio dodged under the beam, and continued to charge. Before they reached the big demon though, Aki had a brilliant question.

"HEY GRAY!" She yelled.

"YEAH, WHAT?!" Gray responded.

"ARE SOULS TASTY!?" She asked.

Gray sweat dropped. "How the hell would I know?!"

Aki grinned. "I don't know! But let's get started!" She yelled, before jumping straight up in front of Lullaby's face.

 **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** She yelled, bringing down a flaming fist onto Lullaby's head. It roared in pain, swiping around it's face furiously, trying to smack away whatever had hit it.

Erza followed up on Aki's attack, swiping at the demon's knees with her twin short swords before falling back. The monster fell to one knee, since the other could not support it's own weight.

Gray came next, slamming Lullaby's face with an **Ice Dragon's Freezing Talon**. Lullaby staggered back, struggling to stand from the barrage of attacks. But after a few seconds, it seemed to have recovered. Standing straight again, Lullaby took a deep breath, seeming to suck in all the life around it. " **TIME TO DIE, PUNY MAGES!** " It bellowed.

But Natsu had something else to say about that. His eyes snapped open, and he looked up at the gigantic beast. **GRAND MAUSOLEUM OF SAND!** He called out, hands still clapped together.

Out of his gourd came what seemed like an endless amount of sand. It swirled out of his gourd and twisted itself around the gigantic wooden demon. Lullaby furiously swiped at the sand, trying to get it off it's body, but it was to no avail. The sand just kept coming, and it eventually swallowed up it's entire body, until all you could see was a giant lump of sand. It then rose up, into the night sky, until it was at least one hundred meters in the air.

Then, slowly but surely, the sand began to form into a ginormous pyramid, with Lullaby trapped in the center. The pyramid was covered in red, tribal markings, and it held the demon tight, not letting it move at all.

Seeing as the work was done, Natsu looked over to Kakashi. "Now Kakashi!" He yelled. Kakashi nodded at him and disappeared in a swirl, appearing again above the pyramid. He landed on the peak of the gigantic pyramid, and requipped a baseball sized lacrima. He held it in one hand, and formed a half ram seal in the other.

 **SEAL!** He yelled, and with a poof of smoke, the entire pyramid disappeared. The lacrima in Kakashi's hand turned a golden yellow colour, and he requipped it away. Since he was now free falling in the air, he used his Kamui to teleport back to Natsu, and together they waited for the rest of the team to come back.

Meanwhile, the guild masters, including Makarov, were all stunned at the impressive display of magic.

"That chick punched with fire!"

"Yeah, and that other boy kicked with ice!"

"Did you see the redhead though? She requipped her armour!"

"What about that sand magic?! I've never seen anything like it!"

"And how did that other kid seal the entire thing into a lacrima?"

Goldmine chuckled and shook his head. "Damn it Makarov, you've sure got some talented young wizards..."

Makarov grinned. "Yep!"

THE NEXT DAY, AT FAIRY TAIL

"So! When did you two get back?" Asked Makarov, who sat on one of the bar benches. Natsu and Kakashi sat on the two adjacent to him.

"Hmm... actually, only three days ago. When we came back, we left to take care of Eisenwald the next morning." Said Kakashi.

Makarov nodded. Erza had explained the whole ordeal to him on their way back. "So how did the decade quest go?"

Natsu shrugged. "Pretty well, it wasn't too difficult." He replied.

Makarov face faulted. _Leave it to these two to say a decade quest isn't too difficult._

"Oh!" Exclaimed Kakashi. "that reminds me, here's some jewel for the guild. Natsu and I didn't really need it all." He said.

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how much jewel is it?"

Natsu smirked and grabbed one of Cana's empty barrels. He held it in front of him, and stared at it intently. A second later, a swirl appeared in the bucket, and out of the swirl came stacks upon stacks of one thousand jewel bills, enough to fill the entire barrel and overflow a little bit.

Makarov blanched and went wide eyed at the insane amount of jewel. "H-how much is that?" He asked.

Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... around fifty million I think."

Makarov cried tears of comedic happiness and hugged the barrel of cash like his life depended on it. "FINALLY!" He cheered. "I'LL BE ABLE TO PAY THE DAMAGE BILLS!"

Right away, he ran off like a madman into his office, excited to finally clear all the damage bills off his desk. Natsu and Kakashi snickered and walked/floated over to their team's table. The entire team was there, including Erza.

Natsu floated at chair height, as if there was actually a chair there, and Kakashi pulled up a chair next to Erza and sat down. "Hey guys, how's it goin?" Natsu asked.

Aki grinned. "We're picking a team name!"

Kakashi frowned. "Why don't we just go with your old team name? Team Dragon?"

Gray shook his head. "Naw, can't use that. Now that there's more than one person on the team who isn't a dragon slayer, it doesn't fit well."

"So we're trying to find a name that incorporates everyone?" Natsu asked.

Erza nodded. "Yes."

They all went back to thinking, but Kakashi had an idea. _Hmm... what was it that Naruto's whole group called themselves again?... the 11 kids? the four teams? WAIT! I remember, it was the Konoha Eleven. That's perfect!_

"I have an idea." Kakashi said.

Aki nodded. "Shoot."

"Well, how about we make a sort of collective name, and have a few subdivisions within our group?" He said.

Gray looked confused. "What?"

Natsu began to understand what Kakashi was talking about. "For example, as a group, our name might be, The Seven. But as smaller teams, Team Dragon and Team Ghost."

Lucy nodded, but still looked a little skeptical. "But Natsu, there's only six of us, why 'The Seven'?"

Natsu pointed at Happy. "Uh.. Y'know Happy is a person too, right?"

"AYE!" Proclaimed Happy. "How about we be called Team Fish?"

Everyone sweat dropped. "I think we'll pass on that one, Happy." said Aki.

"So what's our team name gonna be?" Asked Lucy.

"How about Team Seven?" Erza asked.

The group gave a collective 'Aye!', and just like that, it was decided. Perhaps the greatest team Fairy Tail had ever seen was born right at that moment.

Natsu smirked at Kakashi, who eye smiled back. _Who knew,_ Kakashi thought. _Looks like I'm back on team seven, eh?_

"Wait a minute." Erza said. "Which team am I on?" She asked.

Kakashi put his arm around her shoulders and eye smiled, making her blush. "Team Ghost of course!"

Erza smiled for a second, but then frowned. "But won't I just be a liability to you two?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nonsense. You're a valuable member of the team!" He exclaimed, eye smiling.

She looked at Natsu, who grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you." She said, bowing her head.

"Now," Kakashi said. "why don't we go do some team training?" He asked. And then he decided to try something that he never in a million years would have imagined himself doing. Flirting.

"And bonding..." He whispered in Erza's ear. She immediately blushed redder than her hair, and stuttered furiously. "R-r-right.. Le-let's g-go." She said, quickly getting up and rushing out the back door.

Kakashi shrugged. _Well that was certainly interesting. I wonder if I've retained my old 'sensei' skills. Not like it helped Naruto all that much..._ Kakashi thought.

Natsu on the other hand had disappeared into the Kamui dimension for some thinking time. Also just to talk to Shukaku.

" _Hey Shukaku, how's it goin, been a while since we last talked._ "

" **Yeah, it's been like a week. Anyway, what'cha want?** "

" _What did you think about that demon we fought?_ "

" **HAHAHAH! That thing? A demon? More like a twig!.. All jokes aside though, it was pretty weak. It was probably one of the weaker demons in this world. If it wasn't...**

" _That would be pretty pathetic._ "

" **Yeah.** "

Things were silent for a few moments before Shukaku remembered something he wanted to tell Natsu.

" **Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you something.** "

" _What is it?_ "

" **You can actually summon me in my little form using the summoning jutsu. Just think about summoning me specifically when you use the tanuki summoning contract. I won't be much help in a fight, but if you don't mind, I sorta want to just be outside.** "

" _Yeah sure, I'll do it as soon as I get back! Oh my god, It's going to be great when Lucy meets you! Even the others will have a pretty good reaction, they haven't seen you in years, and only in your normal form!_ "

" **Whatever, just get going brat.** "

Natsu inwardly snickered. " _Alright, see ya in a couple minutes._ "

He teleported out of the Kamui dimension, appearing beside Kakashi in a swirl. They were outside on the back yard of the guild, and were about to start training.

"So, we're going to work on your requip speed." Kakashi said.

Erza nodded. "Alright, where do I start?"

Kakashi frowned, thinking hard on some things he could do to increase Erza's requip speed. _Hmm... how did I get so fast? I remember just getting faster over time, but that doesn't seem to work for her. Maybe it was because I already had experience using time-space abilities? That would explain it, but how do I get Erza up to par?... Perhaps she needs to use it like I do? After all, I've only ever seen her requipping between swings of her weapon, and her armour only changes in between fights. Maybe getting to try it while fighting would help._

"Ok, I have an idea. I'm going to come at you only using blades, and you're going to try and requip between swings of your weapon. Once you get that down, we'll work on the armour." He explained. Erza nodded, requipping a sword and facing Kakashi in a ready stance.

"If you don't mind me," Natsu said, still floating in a sitting position. "I have something I'd like to try out, I'll come back later." He finished, disappearing into the ground.

Kakashi nodded, before turning back to Erza while pulling out a katana that heavily resembled one of his old ANBU swords.

"Now," He said. "Let's begin."

THE FOREST NEAR MAGNOLIA

 **Summoning Jutsu!**

Natsu bit his thumb and slammed his palm on the ground, and out of a poof of smoke appeared a little happy-sized Shukaku.  
 **(Imagine the one from Bee's infinite tsukuyomi dream)**  
The pint-sized Shukaku hopped up onto Natsu's shoulder, much like a parrot might. His star shaped eyes scanned over the forest, taking in the surrounding environment. Suddenly, he let out a victorious whoop.

" **WOO! I'm finally out! Let's go, Natsu! Fly!** "

Natsu sweat dropped. "Yeah, alright." He said, flying high into the air, much to the delight of Shukaku. He stopped at a reasonable height, taking in the surrounding landscape. _It really is beautiful here._ He thought. _The peaceful nature of this world is amazing compared to the brutality of the Elemental Nations. I'm glad mom and dad sent me here. If only I could revive them..._

FLASHBACK

 _"So what are we learning today, Six Paths Sensei?" Asked an excited Natsu._

 _Hagoromo held up a hand, motioning for Natsu to wait. "Hold on, Natsu, before we begin, there's something I need to tell you."_

 _Natsu frowned, confused. "What is it?"_

 _"You remember how I said that using_ _ **Rinne Rebirth**_ _would take up all of Asura's chakra, and it would take at least three years for it to regenerate?"_

 _"Yeah, what about it?" Natsu asked._

 _"It seems there is a certain caveat to it." Hagoromo explained._

 _Natsu grimaced. "What is it?"_

 _"If you use the_ _ **Rinne Rebirth**_ _on someone who has been dead for a long period of time, using Asura's chakra will not be enough to use the technique."_

 _"So what does that mean?" Natsu asked, confused._

 _"If you use it on someone who has been dead for a while, you will die."_

 _Natsu frowned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I see. Thank you for explaining this to me, I will be sure to to take extra care."_

 _Hagoromo nodded. "Now, today we'll be learning..."_

FLASHBACK END

Natsu audibly sighed. _And I still have to take care of Acnologia, wherever the hell that dumb lizard is. Having six paths sage mode will definitely be useful for that, and having Kakashi here will be a huge help as well. I have no doubt that two perfect susanoo will be more than enough to take care of the dragon._

 _Maybe I should practice my sage mode? I haven't used it in a while. I'll just have to suppress my chakra so nobody will notice._ He thought, deciding to make sure he wasn't rusty on his six paths sage mode.

"Shukaku."

" **Yeah?** " replied Shukaku, who was still looking around at the landscape with a bright smile. He had only ever seen the desert and the war-ridden battleground of the fourth shinobi world war, so the greens and blues of the trees and sea were a nice change of pace.

"I'm going to enter six paths sage mode."

Shukaku just shrugged. " **Alright. Why'd ya have to go outta your way to tell me though?** "

Natsu sweat dropped. "Actually I don't know... Whatever just get ready."

A few seconds after he said this, he closed his eyes, concentrating for a moment and going into six paths sage mode. As soon as he did this, a brilliant white chakra cloak enveloped itself around Natsu's body. It looked almost like white fire, and it glowed brightly. His normally red coat turned stark white, and the dragon painting on it came to life, swirling around the glowing white coat. His jeans turned pitch black, as did his sneakers, but other than that, there were no other changes to his clothing. Three black orbs arranged themselves in a triangle pattern behind him, and the fourth turned into the six paths staff, which Natsu held in his hand.

Shukaku gave a appreciative whistle. " **Damn, you look cooler than dad when he does his thing.** "

Natsu snickered. "Thanks, now, let's try and- AGH!" Natsu suddenly shouted, eyes going wide.

" **Natsu! Are you okay? What happened?** "

Natsu stared at the guild hall from miles away. He narrowed his eyes, as if he were expecting it to do something miraculous. "There's an incredible magical energy coming from beneath the guild. It's like nothing I've ever seen. The sheer power dwarfs Kakashi and I combined!" He said.

" **What the hell?! How did neither of notice it before?!** " Shukaku shouted.

Natsu frowned. "I don't know really, there must be some sort of suppression seal on it. I was only able to sense it because I'm in sage mode."

" **We should check it out. It could be some sort of bomb, or weapon.** "

Natsu nodded, going out of sage mode. His clothes reverted back to their original colours, and the white chakra cloak disappeared. "You should go back for now, I'm going to phase through the ground. I'll summon you back as soon as we get there." Shukaku nodded his little head, and disappeared off Natsu's shoulder in a poof of smoke.

Natsu took a deep breath shot off towards the guild at speeds that could rival the Fourth Raikage. As he was coming within distance, he nose dived into the earth, disappearing before anyone could see him. Not like they could of though, it was as if he teleported from his position in the sky to the guild hall.

He travelled through the ground until he reach the place where he felt the magical power coming from, and what he found there was something he never could of expected. It was a lacrima, and a huge one at that. It shone with a brilliant blue radiance, filling the room with light. But that wasn't the most intriguing part about. No, the most interesting part was the fact that there was the body of a girl trapped in the lacrima. She had long, wavy pastel-blonde hair and flowed down to her knees, but despite that, she looked as if she were only about thirteen or fourteen years of age.

Natsu stared in shock. _What the fucking hell is this?! Is this what the magical energy I sensed is coming from? And why the hell is there a girl enclosed in that lacrima?_ He wondered. Eventually, he decided to just tell Makarov about it. After all, it was beneath _his_ guild, so he ought to know just what the hell was beneath it.

He flew straight up, turning invisible as he went, and eventually he reached the main guild hall. Still invisible, he hovered over to where Macao was sitting, and revealed himself, causing Macao and Wakaba, who was sitting at his table, to jump in surprise.

"NATSU CAN YOU STOP DOING THAT?!" Macao shouted, spilling his drink all over himself.

Natsu snickered, then went completely straight faced. "Sorry, do you know where Master Makarov is?"

Macao shrugged. "Dunno, he's probably in his office."

Natsu nodded as he began to float away. "Thanks."

Macao turned back to Wakaba, who was casually smoking his pipe. "Wonder what that was about..." said Macao. Wakaba shrugged. "Who knows, probably just off on another job."

IN MAKAROV'S OFFICE

Natsu came through the floor of Makarov's office, coming to hover on the other side of Makarov's desk. Makarov himself was in the chair, facing the other way. Natsu could hear him grumbling, and papers were being thrown left and right.

"Ugh... stupid brats, always causing trouble..."

Natsu realized he was going to be waiting for one hell of a long time, so he decided to speak up. "Master."

Makarov swiveled around in his chair, putting down the stack of complaints he was going through. "Natsu? What are you doing here? You aren't S-Class yet!"

Natsu sweat dropped. _We did that stupid decade thing and he still doesn't want us coming up to the second floor?..._ "It is a matter of utmost urgency, Master."

Makarov frowned. "What is it ,my boy?"

"I sensed an intense magical energy coming from beneath the guild, and..."

Makarov visibly paled as Natsu was speaking. _Oh crap, did he find out about Fairy Heart? How did he even sense it?! Master Precht and I put at least thirty suppression runes on that damn place!_

"Upon further investigation, I found a large lacrima with the body of a girl inside..."

 _God damnit._

"This may be a problem. It could be some sort of weapon, or bomb designed to destro-"

Makarov cut him off, sighing. "Since you've already found it, I suppose there's no point of hiding it. What you found is the Fairy Heart."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Fairy Heart?"

Makarov nodded. "Yes. It contains the body of our first master, Mavis Vermilion. She was killed a long time ago, but the second master, Precht, could still sense magic coming from her heart. He sealed her within that Lacrima, and over the years he performed various experiments trying to revive her. Eventually, after many failed experiments, the lacrima turned into a source of near infinite magic power. Soon after, Master Precht left without any warning, naming me the third master of Fairy Tail."

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows, confusing Makarov. "Is she dead now?"

Makarov looked down in sorrow. "I-I don't know... I would like to think we still have a chance, but after so long... I don't think it's still possible..."

"And her body was kept in perfect condition, as if she had died yesterday?"

Makarov looked at him in confusion. "Well, yes, I suppose, but I don't see wha-"

"I can revive her."

Makarov's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"I can bring her back to life at the cost of my strongest power for the next two to three years."

"You can do that?!" Makarov shouted.

Natsu nodded. "Yes."

"And you will do it?"

Natsu smiled and nodded. "Yes."

Makarov laughed and jumped on his desk, dancing around in celebration. "AWESOME! LET'S GO!" He exclaimed, jumping off his desk.

But then he stopped abruptly. "Wait a minute, how did you even get in there? Master Precht and I put a rune there to block phasing magic!"

Natsu grinned. "Kakashi and I can't be stopped by some silly rune!" He shouted, laughing like an idiot.

Makarov sweat dropped. "Well, ok then... Oh, and one more thing." He said.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Don't tell anybody about the Fairy Heart. It's a secret that normally only the guild masters are allowed to know about, so you can't just go about telling everybody." He explained.

Natsu nodded. "Alright, I won't, but I'm going to need Kakashi there to help me with something."

Makarov sighed. "I suppose that's alright."

Natsu grinned. "Cool! I'll meet'cha down there!" He said, disappearing through the floor.

OUTSIDE, WHERE ERZA AND KAKASHI ARE TRAINING

Kakashi and Erza had only been training for around thirty minutes when Natsu came back. Erza increased her requip speed by a quarter of a second, which was actually pretty good, considering her original time was three seconds.

Kakashi held up a hand to stop Erza. He walked over to Natsu to see what he needed. "Natsu?" He said, noticing Natsu's serious look.

"Kakashi, I need your help, I'm going to perform the **Rinne Rebirth**." Natsu said.

Kakashi went wide eyed. "What?! On who?"

Natsu shook his head. "I'll explain on the way there, just come with me. I'm going to need to you to warp me into the Kamui dimension to rest after I've used the jutsu."

Kakashi nodded, before jumping over to Erza. "Erza, I'm going to need to help Natsu with something, continue training on your own for a little while, it shouldn't take long." Erza nodded and went back to her training.

Kakashi turned back to Natsu. "Let's go." He said, and followed Natsu, who had disappeared into the ground.

IN THE FAIRY HEART ROOM

Makarov walked down to the place where he and Precht had put Mavis over fourty years ago. It seemed so surreal to him. After so many attempts at bringing back their first master, one kid could just bring her back to life?

 _If only you were still here, master, it would be a tremendous day for Fairy Tail._ Makarov thought as he reached the room. He noticed that Natsu and Kakashi were already there, conversing quietly.

He walked over to the pair and greeted them. "So Natsu, you can revive her?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I can. But first I need Kakashi to break that Lacrima, which is part of the reason why I had him come here."

Makarov nodded. "Alright, just do it." He seemed calm, but on the inside, he was a whole storm of emotions. Happiness, for finally getting their first master back after so long. Worry, for if the technique went wrong, Anxiousness, would she be happy with how the guild is? Would she be angry with him if it wasn't how she liked it?

Questions like this ran through Makarov's head as he saw Kakashi charging up an attack to shatter the lacrima. He looked at the lacrima wearily. "Are you sure you can break it? Master Precht said that you would need an attack at least as strong as Mavis' own great spells to be able to."

Kakashi shrugged. "I honestly don't know. But we're about to find out!" He said, holding a clenched fist out in front of him. A second later, purple and white energy began swirling around swirling around his fist, covering it in mixed light. Outside of that, white cubes began surrounding it, swirling around the purple and white magic like a shell.

All of a sudden, Kakashi charged at the huge lacrima, tearing up the ground behind him. At the last second, he brought his fist forward, calling out his attack as it hit collided with the lacrima. **TWIN DRAGON'S CRASHING FIST!**

Jumping back to the others, he waited with halted breath to see if his attack had worked. Silence. That's all that filled the room as the trio waited. Suddenly, they heard a small 'crack' come from the lacrima, and they stared at it as the one crack began branching out through the lacrima like a spider web, until eventually the entire thing was covered in cracks.

Then, with a deafening shatter noise, the thing fell apart like glass, leaving Mavis's body to fall to the ground in a heap.

Makarov stared at Kakashi in shock. _So much power... And he doesn't even look winded! To think, he didn't even need that to beat Gildarts all those years ago..._

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Kakashi shouting something. "NOW NATSU!"

Natsu took a wide stance, and lifted his headband before slamming his hands together in a snake seal. He closed his eyes, and started trembling in concentration. The ends of his hair began to turn white, and blood dripped from the ends of his mouth.

 **GEDO ART OF RINNE REBIRTH!**


	20. CH-20: The First Master

**Hey everyone, sorry if there's some errors or other dumb shit this chapter, I needed to get this out tonight. In this chapter, Mavis meets the guild!  
**

Two days have passed since Natsu revived Mavis Vermilion, the first master of Fairy Tail. Since that day, she has been resting in Porlyusica's small hut in the woods, recovering from literally being brought back from the dead, much to Porlyusica's shock. She didn't think it possible for someone to be brought back from the dead, much less to see it for herself. But none the less, there was living proof presented right on her doorstep.

After the initial checkup, she quickly determined that there was nothing wrong with the first master, rather she was suffering from extreme fatigue, and most likely would not be waking up for a few days. Though once she relayed the news to Makarov, he didn't even seem to care, instead just happy that they would have the first master back, and he was fully prepared to hand over his title as soon as she became conscious.

But right now we find poor old Porlyusica in her little shack, preparing some well-deserved coffee. The hut itself was a wonderful place in her personal opinion. Plants and various mosses grew along the walls and floors, and it provided a pleasant nature-like ambience. The walls were literally tree roots, and along the walls were bookshelves and other appliances, leaving the middle of the small home open.

Porylusica grumbled to herself as she poured the dark liquid into her tall mug. The fading sunlight of the setting sun shone through the window and glinted off her steel sink, annoying her even further than she already was. _Grrr... stupid humans, over the past few days I've been little more than a glorified babysitter! Damn old Makarov, if I wasn't friends with that old buffoon, I swear I would-_

"Wh-where am I?"

The sudden noise startled Porlyusica, and she almost dropped her precious cup of coffee. She quickly set the mug down and rushed over to the bed side by Mavis. She pulled up an old wooden bench and sat down.

"You've just woken up from a near three day sleep, just try and rest, everything will be explained to you shortly." Porlyusica said, confusing the young girl.

It was a good thing Mavis was intelligent as she was, otherwise she may have just freaked out. Instead, she calmly nodded at Porlyusica, and scanned her surroundings like how a seasoned soldier might.

 _Where the hell am I?_ She wondered. _I dont think I've ever seen this place before. And who is that old lady? Is she a doctor? Or simply a kind of woman who's been taking care of me? I suppose I'll just rest here until things get explained to me like she said._

So for the next five minutes, Mavis just lay there, resting her eyes and waiting. But soon after, she remembered one, very important fact. One that just may kill the kind old lady who had taken care of her.

She bolted upright, looking around for the old woman frantically. _Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! SHE NEEDS TO GET AWAY FROM HERE! THE CURSE WILL KILL HER! I HAVE TO WARN HER! WHERE IS SHE!?_

She closed her eyes, trying to listen to see if she could potentially hear her footsteps, and her efforts were quickly rewarded, as she heard two sets of footsteps approaching the door.

"As I said, she's awake now, but she may need more rest."

"I just can't wait to see her! Do you think she'll like how the guild has come along?!"

Mavis's eyes widened. _Guild? Could they be talking about Fairy Tail? And what do they mean by 'how the guild has come along'. Did something happen?_

"*Sigh*, how the hell could I possibly know that, Makarov?"

 _Makarov? Could it be Makarov Dreyar? But he should only be a toddler right now, it must be someone different._

She stared at the door intensly as it slowly creaked open, revealing the old woman from before and a tiny old man. But there was one thing that stuck out to her in the whole picture. One, little thing that meant a world of difference. And that thing was a black Fairy Tail guild mark, imprinted right on the old man's plain, white shirt.

She watched as the woman went back over to her small kitchen, grumbling as she went. The old man on the other hand, walked straight up to her bed and hopped up on the stool. She was about to ask him where she was, but with shocking realization she remembered the curse.

With wide eyes, she tried to lift her arms and push him away, but she was too weak. "Quick! You have to get away! I'm cursed! You'll DIE!" She tried to yell, but it came out most like a hoarse whisper.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, First? You don't look very cursed to _me_." He said, grinning.

Then Mavis took a second to actually think about it. _Am I still cursed? I must be! There's no way being asleep for a few days could just get rid of the curse of Ankhseram! But then why don't I feel it anymore? The knawing in my stomach? The feeling of dread and despair, and the pain that comes with it all? Could it be?... Am I free?..._

Makarov watched in confusion as tears slowly dripped from the First's eyes, and she smiled serenely. "Free..." She muttered, falling back down on the bed.

He wanted to know more about whatever this curse was, but he ultimately decided that there were more pressing matters to attend to. "Anyways, there's a lot I need to tell you, First."

Then she realized what he was calling her. First. _So he_ _ **is**_ _from Fairy Tail. But I don't remember any members by the name of Makarov, other than the baby, so who's this? A new recruit? But then how does he know me? And why isn't Precht here?_

She watched the old man sigh and rub his mustache, as if anxious about something. "This will be really hard to believe, First, but you've been dead for almost one hundred years."

Mavis was confused. _Very_ confused. _What?! I was dead? Then how am I even alive?_ "H-how?" She said, voice barely above a whisper.

Makarov looked at the floor, clearly sad about something. "One day, some black haired woman brought your body back to the guild, claiming you were dead."

 _ZERIA! It must be her! But she said she was a dark mage! I'd better not mention her for now.  
_

"But Master Precht could still sense a faint trace of magic emanating from your heart, and with quick thinking, he put your body in a lacrima, holding it in stasis. Over the years, he would conduct all sorts of experiments to try and get you back, but none of them ever worked."

"Then how am I alive? And who are you?" Mavis asked, confused.

Makarov scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Oh! Sorry about that. I'm Makarov Dreyar! Third master of Fairy Tail!"

Mavis' eyes went wide in shock. _So it's all true... I've really been dead for a hundred years..._

"Anyways," Makarov continued. "Just recently, one of our young mages actually sensed the lacrima you were sealed in, which we hid beneath the guild hall."

Mavis tilted her head. "Shouldn't anybody have been able to sense it?"

Makarov shook his head, looking dead serious. "Nobody should have been able to sense it. Master Precht and I placed several suppression runes on the room, and yet, he still did." He said.

Mavis suddenly had stars in her eyes, and if she could of, she would have jumped up and hopped around. "HE MUST BE SUPER STRONG!" She exclaimed.

Makarov sweat dropped and First's childishness, but on this case, he completely agreed with her. "He is! He's an excellent young mage! In fact, all our younger generation are doing great!" He yelled, holding up his hand in the signature Fairy Tail sign.

Mavis nodded her head, urging him to tell her more. "Really?! What kind of magic do they use?! How many of them are there?!" She asked, before suddenly exclaiming, "I WANNA MEET THEM!"

Makarov waved his hand, trying to calm her down. "Yes, yes, you will, but for now, I need to tell you how you were revived!" He said, and finally, she calmed down, sitting still to listen to the rest of the story.

"As I was saying, he sensed the lacrima, and went down to check it out. Long story short, that lacrima, which we called Fairy Heart, is a secret only guild masters were supposed to know, so I told him not to tell anybody."

Mavis smiled at the name, liking it quite a bit. "But that still doesn't explain how I'm alive right now."

"Ahh, yes. Well, it may be a shock, and it was to me too when I saw it, but it was actually the young mage's magic that revived you. I don't know much about it, but you can ask his friend about the strange magic, he probably knows more." Makarov explained.

Mavis was stunned into silence, which is a rare occurrence for the young master. She couldn't even comprehend it. A magic that could bring the dead back to life... Did such a thing even exist? But... the proof of it existing was literally herself!

She was snapped out of her musings by Makarov speaking yet again. "And one more thing, First... Would you like the position of Master back?"

Mavis quickly shook her head. "Nonononono... It sounds like you're doing just fine!" She said, giggling to herself.

Makarov grumbled. _Damnit! Back to the paperwork for me then..._

"Now," Mavis spoke, this time serious. "What have a missed in the past hundred years?"

AT THE GUILD HALL, A DAY LATER

Today at the guild hall, Team Seven sat at their regular table like usual, but this time they were missing one, very important member of the team. And that member was a certain dragon slayer named Natsu. The day after Mavis' revival, the group had questioned Kakashi relentlessly on Natsu's whereabouts, but all they ever got as an answer was either 'He used a lot of energy', or 'You'll find out eventually'. Needless to say, it annoyed them greatly, but they still wanted to find out just what could've used so much of Natsu's energy.

Team Shadow Gear, along with the Strauss siblings don't sit at Team Seven's table anymore, but they still sat near them, other than Mirajane, who worked the bar. Their table was actually pretty tucked into the corner, since they didn't want it getting flipped or broken when guild brawls broke out.

"Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase can you tell us, Kakashi?" Begged Aki, who was resting her head on the table, bored out of her mind.

Kakashi shook his head, not looking up from the book he held in his hands. "No, you can ask Natsu when he comes back, but I'm not telling you."

Aki gained a tick mark, gritting her teeth in frustration. "Grrr... YOU ALWAYS TELL US THAT, BUT YOU NEVER SAY WHY!"

This time, Gray and Erza agreed with her pestering. "It's true, Kakashi," Gray said, looking straight at him. "Can you tell us _why_ you can't tell us?"

Erza stared at him intently, expecting a straight forward answer. But to her disappointment, the answer she received was about as vague as they come.

Kakashi looked up, and focused on each of them one at a time, before looking away uncomfortably. "It's just... not my place to tell you guys, sorry." He said.

Aki groaned and slammed her forehead on the table. "God damnit! When Natsu gets back here, he better have a good reas-"

Suddenly, the guild's front doors slowly creaked open, letting the bright, yellow light of the morning sun into the hall, making all the people inside shield their eyes. When the light finally died down, they saw two figures standing side by side. Upon closer inspection, they could see that one of them was obviously their guild master, Makarov Dreyar, but the other one was a completely new face.

She seemed like she was about fourteen, and she wore a long, pink frilled dress that went down to her ankles. It had a blue diamond pattern around her waist, and a mini-poncho thing around her shoulders that was held together by a red ribbon.  
 **(Seriously, what the fuck are these things even called?)**  
Her hair was a golden yellow colour, and it flowed in a wavy fashion down a little past her knees. Her eyes were a vibrant green, and on her head were two pink wings, presumably held in place by a headband.

The guild's profound silence was broken by none other than Aki herself. She waved her hand at Makarov, gaining his attention. "Oi! Master! Who's that!?"

Makarov raised an eyebrow, seeming super non-chalant about whoever was standing beside him, but on the inside, he was laughing maniacally. _OH, THIS IS GOING TO BE SO GOOD! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEIR REACTIONS!_ He thought. "Her? Just Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermilion." He said, finally breaking out into a wide grin.

Now, the reaction from the guild was quite varied, but all their reactions still came from the same place, and it lived up to Makarov's expectations in the fullest. Cana dropped her barrel on the spot, and even spat out her mouthful of beer. Mirajane and Elfman just stared at her, freezing in place and not even moving a muscle. Levy actually looked up from her books and notes pen coming to a halt mid-sentence. Nab turned away from the request board for once to have a look, and Vijeeter stopped dancing completely. Macao and Wakaba's jaws dropped to the floor, and Wakaba's cigar actually fell out of his mouth, landing on the table in a pile of ash.

At the table of Team Seven, things were a little more toned down. Kakashi had no reaction at all, having already head the news. Erza narrowed her eyes at the new appearance, inspecting her closely. Gray's eyes widened, but he said nothing, along with Lucy. Aki on the other hand, was a little different. She immediately jumped up from her chair and pointed at the young guild master, narrowing her eyes. "HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! SHOULDN'T YOU BE OLDER?! LIKE, OLDER THAN GRAMPS!?" She yelled.

Happy nodded his head. "AYE!" He yelled.

Mavis waved her hand dismissively, scoffing at Aki's comment. "I'll explain all that later! For now, I need my guild mark back!" She exclaimed.

Makarov nodded at the still frozen Mirajane, smiling at her. "You know what to do, Mirajane!"

Mirajane slowly nodded. "R-right..." She said, scurrying away to get the guild's stamp.

The guild then watched as Mavis scanned her eyes over the guild, as if inspecting them. She rubbed her chin, like she was thinking about something very important. Everyone there went dead silent, not knowing what to expect from the first master.

Macao blinked rapidly, a drop of sweat falling down his forehead. "Oh man..." He muttered. "Do you think she's like Erza?..."

Wakaba was statue still, pretty much in the same state Macao was. "I don't know... But if she is, we're done for!"

Lucy leaned over to Gray. "Jeez!" She whispered. "She's shutting them up like Erza when I first saw her!"

Gray nodded. "Yeah, no kidding..." He whispered back.

Kakashi kept reading his pervy orange book, as if nothing important was happening, and Erza stared at the first master, curious to see what she was like.

Despite Mavis' serious looking expression, inwardly she was laughing at the effect she was having on them. _Wow! The guild's been doing great! I never thought I would see this many members in my guild! I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET EVERYONE! But for now, I should just focus the friend's of this 'Natsu' person. After all, the friends of the person who literally brought me back from the dead can't be too bad, can they?_ She thought, looking the guild over once again.

 _Now what was it Macky told me?... Right, one with red hair, one with green hair, and they'll have a blue cat with them. So... AH! There!_ She thought, realizing it was the person who had called her out earlier.

She strode over to their table, her hair flowing behind her. Slowly, but surely, the guild returned to it's normal self, much to the relief of both Mavis and Makarov.

Aki gulped nervously as Mavis approached their spot. She began sweating profusely in her anxiousness, and Happy snickered.

"You're dead." Happy said.

Aki groaned as she let her head hit the table. "Don't remind me..." She moaned out.

Happy shrugged. "Aye!" He exclaimed, nibbling on a brand new Mackarel.

Mavis finally reached their table, standing in the open spot where Natsu usually floated. She stood there for a few seconds, just looking at them, before she broke into a delightful smile and waved. "Hi there! I'm Mavis! Nice to meet'cha!" She said cheerfully.

Aki let out a huge sigh, before shooting her head up and grinning. "ALL RIGHT! I'M NOT GONNA DIE TODAY!"

Happy nodded. "AYE!"

Aki patted him on the head and turned back to Mavis. "Hiya! I'm Aki Dragneel!" She proclaimed, waving. "And this is Happy!" She said, pointing to Happy, who smiled.

"AYE!"

Next up, Gray looked at her, waving as he spoke. "Hey, I'm Gray Fullbuster." He said calmly.

Erza actually bowed to Mavis, confusing the young guild master greatly. "Greetings, First, my name is Erza Scarlet. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Mavis sweat dropped at her overly complicated intro, but smiled and waved back none the less. "Just call me Mavis, after all, I'm not the guild master anymore." Said Mavis. Erza nodded and remained quiet while Lucy introduced herself.

"Hiiii! I'm Lucy! Nice to meet you!" Lucy said, her rather bubbly personality showing.

Lastly, Kakashi looked up, putting his book away as he did. "My name is Kakashi, nice to meet you." He said, giving her a lazy peace sign with his left hand.

Mavis nodded, and looked over the strange group one more time. _They sure are an interesting group, not even counting their weird hair colours. It's gonna be so fun working with them! That is, if they accept me..._

But she was snapped out of her thoughts by Mirajane, who had appeared out of nowhere with the guild stamp in hand. She walked right up to Mavis with a brilliant smile and leaned down to speak with her.

"Hi First Master! Where would you like your guild mark?" Asked Mirajane.

Mavis grinned and pulled up her right sleeve and pointed to her right forearm, indicating where she wanted her guild mark. "On my right forearm please, in yellow."

Mirajane pressed the stamp down on Mavis' right forearm, and after a second pulled it off, revealing a yellow Fairy Tail mark, just as intended. Mavis smiled at her new guild mark, before turning back to Mirajane. "Thanks! Uhm..."

"Mirajane!" She happily said, filling Mavis in on her strange name.

"Thank you Mirajane!" Mavis then said.

Mirajane smiled, waving her hand dismissively. "No problem! And als-" She suddenly cut off, turned her head sharply towards the bar, confusing Mavis. "CANA!" She yelled, storming off towards the bar. "DON'T THINK I DON'T SEE YOU SNEAKING BEHIND THE BAR!"

Mavis tilted her head, confused at Mirajane's strange antics. But she turned back around when she heard Erza's voice speaking to her.

"Don't worry about it, this kind of thing happens all the time. And this isn't the first time Cana has tried to get behind the bar, and I suspect it won't be the last." Erza said, narrowing her eyes on the brown haired girl, who was now back at her table with her beer kegs.

Mavis giggled at how the guild was acting. _It's turned out_ _ **exactly**_ _how I wanted to. And I can't believe I'm going to be a member of my own guild!_ Mavis thought excitedly. _Being master was still good and all, but I just want to go out on my own adventures! Not sit around in a stuffy old desk and write papers all day long... SO THIS IS PERFECT!_ Mavis reasoned, inwardly squealing in delight.

"Anyways," Erza said, breaking the first master out of her thoughts. "Our team is about to go on a job, would yo-"

She was cut off by an excited Aki, who had risen out of her seat at the mere mention of doing a job. "REALLY?! WE'RE GOING ON A JOB?!" She yelled excitedly, grinning at Erza, who was slightly annoyed at being cut off so suddenly.

Erza huffed in frustration, crossing her arms and gaining a small, red tick mark. "Yes, we are! Now, why don-" She would have continued speaking, but alas, she was cut off yet again, by the same person no less.

"GREAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY SO?! C'MON GRAY! LET'S GO FIND US A JOB!" Aki exclaimed gleefully, running to the request board dragging poor Gray by his collar. He was gone so fast that he couldn't even say one word.

Happy flew after her with a cute little "AYE SIR!".  
 **(I say "Aye Sir" here, even though Aki is a girl. This is because in the anime, Happy never changes it whenever addressing Lucy or Erza, and when Gray and Natsu do their little 'Afraid Of Erza' shtick, they also say "AYE SIR!")**

Erza took a deep breath, trying to calm down from Aki's oblivious aggravation. She turned back to Mavis and put on the best smile she could muster, despite being annoyed. "As I was saying, would you like to come with us? I understand you most likely wouldn't need our help, but I thoug-"

She was cut off for the third time that day this time by Mavis. She nodded her head furiously, her pupils becoming stars in delight. "YESYESYESYESYES I WOULD LOVE TO!" She exclaimed with a million watt smile.

Erza blinked at Mavis' sudden eagerness. "Well, uh, okay then, let's just wait for Aki to get back, then we can head out. In the meantime, you can just take a seat at our- oh shoot." She suddenly cut off, confusing Mavis.

Mavis tilted her head, wondering what Erza was angry about. "What is it?" Mavis inquired.

Erza sighed. "You see, the other person who usually sits with us has the ability to levitate, so we don't have another chair. I apologize."

 _It must be Natsu._ Mavis thought. _After all, these are_ _ **his**_ _friends I'm talking to._  
Mavis giggled. "Don't worry about it! I don't even need a chair! Wanna know why?" She asked, grinning with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Why?" Erza asked, finding herself actually wanting to know the answer.

Suddenly, Mavis floated a couple feet into the air in a cross legged position. She laughed, clearly delighted at her ability to fly. "Because I can levitate too!" She shouted.

Lucy, who had mostly stayed out of the whole ordeal, decided now was the time to chime in. "So Mavis," She said, drawing Mavis' attention. "What kind of magic do you use?"

Mavis grinned at her. "The best kind of magic ever!" She proclaimed, raising a fist to accentuate her point.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. Normally, she would have had a bigger reaction to such a statement, especially since she was talking to the first master of Fairy Tail. But after seeing the First's personality and attitude? Not so much... "What kind of magic is it?" Lucy asked.

"Fairy Magic! And I can do this cool flying trick too." Mavis said, looking beneath her as if to make sure she was still airborne.

Now they were all interested. Kakashi put his book away, leaning forward in his seat to join conversation. He'd never heard of Fairy Magic before, and being the genius he is, decided to learn more about it. "I've never heard of Fairy Magic before, what does it do?" He asked, eye smiling to make her feel more welcomed among their team.

Mavis clenched both her fists in excitement and leaned forwards, eager to explain her exceedingly rare form of magic, one only known to one person, her. "It's amazing! There's a bunch of little spells, like Fairy Pillars of Light, Fairy's Tears, and Fairy Beam!" She exclaimed.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Little spells?" He asked.

Mavis nodded. "Yep! The main spells I'm pretty sure you've already heard of." She said.

Kakashi tilted his head, confused. "No, I don't think I have actually." He said.

Mavis looked to all the others at the table, noticing how they looked just as confused as Kakashi did. Shrugging, she began to explain the three 'main' spells. "Well, they're called Fairy Law, Fairy Glitter, and Fairy Sphere!" She explained, counting on her fingers as she said named the spells. "Nooooowwww have you heard of them?" She asked in a drawn-out, sarcastic voice.

Kakashi and Lucy didn't really react all that much, having never heard of any of the three spells. But Aki, Gray, and Erza all knew what Fairy Law was. All three of them had their jaws drop to the floor when they heard the news.

"NO WAY!" Shouted Aki, who had returned to the table with Gray, a job request in hand. "YOU MEAN YOU INVENTED ONE OF GRAMPS' BEST SPELLS?!"

Mavis giggled at Aki's outburst. "Well duh! I taught the second master how to use it, then he taught the third!"

"That's freakin' awesome Mavis!" Gray exclaimed.

Erza nodded. "You're quite the exceptional wizard, Mavis." She said with an underlying tone of great respect.

Mavis smiled and was about to thank her, when she heard Kakashi speak up. "So I assume that these three spells are extremely powerful?" He said. He figured that there was no way that the three would have such a reaction unless it was an exceptional spell. And they even said 'one of gramps best spells', so there was even more proof.

Erza smiled and explained. "Yes, they are. In fact, they're considered 'The Three Great Fairy Magics'. The one we were talking about is called 'Fairy Law'. When cast, it emits a blinding light, and anyone caught in the light who the caster considers an enemy takes massive damage."

Kakashi was about to ask another question, but Mavis had something to add. "Buuuut... The caster has to consider the targets enemies... in their heart. The spell will work according to a person's true intentions, intentions guided by the heart and soul." She explained, closing her eyes and waving a finger around like a teacher.

 _Interesting..._ Kakashi thought. _There's no other magic even remotely like it. I wonder what the other two do..._

"What about the other two?" Asked Kakashi. _If they're just as powerful as the Fairy Law, I have no doubt that Mavis could be the strongest mage in the guild, not counting Natsu and I. Well, that_ _ **is**_ _assuming that when she says 'massive damage', she isn't over exaggerating, but knowing Erza, I don't think that's the case._

Mavis shrugged dismissively. "Eh... They're not as exciting... Fairy Glitter is kind of like Fairy Law, but it only targets a single person, and the caster can choose specifically who it hits. Fairy Sphere is a defensive spell, and what it does is convert Fairy Tail member's bonds of friendship into pure magical power, then it uses that magical power to create a bubble-like shield. It's powerful enough to defend against the most evil of dark magics, and it even stops whatever is inside from passing through time!" She explained.

But after a few seconds of pondering, she spoke again. "Y'know what? Screw what I said earlier, they're all exciting!" She yelled, throwing her arms up in celebration.

Kakashi and Lucy sweat dropped. "Right..." They both said, wondering how someone so young and carefree could found a guild.

"So, moving on," Erza spoke. "Why don't we go do the job request? Aki show us what you picked out." She said, beckoning for Aki to hand over the job request.

Aki grinned and held the request out so everyone at the table had a clear view of the small paper. "Pretty simple one actually, all we gotta do is clear out a den of wyverns! Even if we're missing one of our dragon slayers, this'll be cake!" She exclaimed, causing Erza to space out a little at the mention of cake.

Mavis was confused. _One of our dragon slayers? Implying that there are many on the team? I wonder..._ "Aki, how many dragon slayers are there normally?" She asked.

Aki looked to the ceiling and held out her hand to count. "Uhh... Let's see here... Ok, so there's me, Gray, Kakashi, and Natsu!"

Mavis gasped. _So many!_ She thought. _And Natsu's a dragon slayer too! But how would a dragon slayer know a spell to bring someone back from the dead?_ "So Natsu's a dragon slayer?"

Aki nodded, as did everyone else. Mavis continued. "Can you tell me about him?" She asked.

Aki shrugged. "Yeah, sure, but let's get going first, they can tell you about him on the train."

Mavis tilted her head, confused. "They? Why not you?" She asked, genuinly curious.

Aki sighed, looking at the floor dejectedly. "You'll see..."


	21. CH-21: A mission with Mavis!

**Sorry this one took so long, I got distracted with a few things. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 _So this is what she meant..._ Thought a face palming Mavis Vermilion as she sat in the booth of a train, watching the poor green-haired dragon slayer across from her groan in misery. To think that magic users who wielded the powers of dragons could succumb to such a lousy weakness. Then a surprising thought popped into her mind. _How could they ever ride their dragons if they get motion sickness?!... Well, that's assuming they_ _ **did**_ _ride their dragons..._

But what piqued her interest even further was Gray sighing in defeat at Aki's pleading puppy eyes boring into him. He leaned back where he was sitting and uncrossed his arms, leaving them to rest beside him. Aki shot him a weak smile, then proceeded to lie down straight on his chest, wrapping her arms around him and curling her legs up like a cat. She fell asleep faster than the guild when Mystogan was there.

Mavis giggled at the sudden display of romance. She would've asked the other members of the team about it, but she had better questions to ask. Maybe if she had time later though... Leaning forwards and looking beside her at Kakashi and Erza, she began to speak.  
"So... How does the team do things? What's the 'usual' plan?" Mavis asked, her tactician side showing through a little.

Kakashi shrugged and eye smiled sheepishly, if that was even possible. "Well... to be honest, we don't really have a 'plan' most of the time." He explained, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Mavis raised an eyebrow curiously. "How do we do jobs without having a plan?" She asked. Being the strategical genius she was, having a plan was almost second nature to her. Not having a pre-set course of action seemed completely out of the question.

Erza let out a hearty chuckle. "You see, Aki and Gray usually charge in before we can get any planning done. And even if we do set up a strategy, most of the time they ignore it and charge in anyways!" She said.

Mavis turned her head to the pair of dragon slayers in question and noticed that Gray was pointedly staring out the window. The faint blush on his cheeks was a clear indicator that he was embarrassed by Erza's reveal of their usual procedure.

Aki was blissfully ignorant, which didn't help Gray's predicament. Being asleep, all it did was focus _all_ the attention on him, causing him to shift uncomfortably.

Mavis giggled a little, but otherwise ignored it. "So I assume Erza is the team leader? And therefor the strongest member of the team?" She asked.

Erza smiled and shook her head. "No... I may act like I'm the leader of the team, but I'm far from the strongest, especially with you here... If you were to order the team in terms of power level, I'd say I'm around fourth, although Aki and Gray have been catching up rapidly." She said, prompting Gray to break out of his stupor and raise the arm that wasn't being smothered by Aki's body.

"YOU BET WE ARE! JUST YOU WAIT! AKI AND I WILL BE ABLE TO BEAT YOU SOON!" He exclaimed, albeit not _too_ loudly. After all, wouldn't want to wake the sleeping beauty that was resting directly on him, eh?

Mavis smiled at his obvious determination to defeat the scarlet knight. _I can already tell... if Aki is even half as determined as he is, those two are going to go far..._ She thought. But then she had another revelation. _So that would mean that Kakashi and Natsu are both more powerful than her..._ She realized. "Tell me about Natsu! What's he like? Is he strong? What kind of magic does he use?!" She asked in rapid succession, her eyes becoming stars in excitement.

Erza blinked at her rapid fire questions, but then turned to Kakashi. "I think Kakashi is better suited to answer this one." She said, crossing her arms and leaning back to listen to Kakashi.

Said silver-haired ninja leaned forwards and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... where do I even start?..." He wondered out loud, seeming to be thinking deeply. A second later, he gave a little shrug and spoke again. "I guess I'll go over what he's like first." He said, which only furthered Mavis' excitement.

"Well, the first thing to know about the guy is that he's sorta got two sides to him." He explained, confusing the first master.

He continued. "When we're out on jobs or other things, he's a pretty serious guy, always analyzing and thinking of the most efficient way to take whoever we may be fighting, and he's pretty good at it, too. When we're relaxing at the guild or someplace else, he's as carefree as you'll find Aki to be, and a really cheerful guy. Makes conversation and jokes like any other person at the guild." He explained. A few seconds later, Kakashi thought of another little tidbit. "He doesn't really have any strange quirks to him, but sometimes if a fight is really boring, and not too important, he'll do something... odd... to liven it up a bit."

From the first couple sentences, he already had an A+ in Mavis' books. The guy just seemed almost exactly like her! Serious when he needed to be, but at the same time cheerful and friendly! And being a good strategist certainly didn't hurt. At the same time though, she wondered just how well Natsu actually fit the explanation. Only time would tell.

Suddenly, Kakashi smirked and began speaking again, once again grabbing Mavis' attention. "You guys may not think so, but I believe that he'll actually be quite miffed that he's not the youngest in the group anymore, not including happy."

Gray raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You really think so?" He asked. Erza gave Kakashi the same look, silently asking the same question.

Kakashi nodded. "Mhm, I do. You may of forgotten, but I spent six years traveling around with him, so I know him better than you guys do." He said, earning a nod from Gray and Erza. Mavis on the other hand just had even more questions.

She waved her hand, gaining his attention. "Why were you two traveling for six whole years?" She asked.

Kakashi shrugged, giving her the impression that it wasn't too big of a deal. "We were just traveling around Fiore. Natsu and weren't born here, so we wanted to see the whole country." He explained.

Mavis gave him an unimpressed look. "So you two just randomly took off for six years?!"

Kakashi looked to the side, as if inwardly debating about something. After a few seconds, he responded. "Well... we kinda had to this decade quest, but we had to go so far to get there, we decided to travel around Fiore."

Mavis sweat dropped at his explanation. _Well, they're certainly powerful, but incredibly lazy?..._ She wondered. _And if they're not from Fiore, where are they from?_

Kakashi continued with his explanation of Natsu. "About his magic... well, it's honestly really hard to explain..." Said Kakashi, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Mavis scrunched her eyebrows and frowned in confusion. "How can magic be hard to explain? Isn't it just dragon slayer magic?" She asked.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "No... It's not just dragon slayer magic... Hmm... How do I explain this..." He mumbled, thinking hard. A second later, he came out of his stupor with an 'aha!' and began speaking again. "Let me put it this way... Natsu has enough different techniques and abilities that he could use a different one against all of us and still beat us ninety nine times out of one hundred. Maybe not you though, after all, we've never seen your magic so we have no idea how strong you are." He explained, gaining a shocked reaction from not just Mavis, but the rest of the team as well.

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Just how many magics does Natsu know? You've never actually told us." She asked.

Lucy remained silent, but was still pretty shocked at Kakashi's bold statement. She probably would have had a stronger reaction, but after spending time with the team, she learned to accept that Natsu and Kakashi could just do stuff like this.

Kakashi spoke in a deadly serious voice. "Over ten."

Erza gave off an impressed expression, nodding in approval. I mean who wouldn't be impressed? Lucy was almost in the same boat, although instead of being impressed it was more along the lines of in awe.

Mavis on the other hand had a little more of a reaction. Not externally, but on the inside she was reeling. _What the hell?! Over ten? I've never even heard of someone who knows so many! And he probably mastered them all if he can beat each person here with a different one._ She thought. _Ooooohhhhh I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO MEET HIM!_ She inwardly squealed in excitement.

But before she could ask further questions, Kakashi audibly sighed as if he were exasperated and began speaking yet again. "I guess this is as good time as any to explain a few things about mine and Natsu's techniques. And the first thing you have to know is that technically, Natsu only knows one magic, his dragon slayer magic."

Kakashi had decided that it would be beneficial to explain the difference between 'Jutsu' and 'Magic'. Of course, this also meant that he would have to tie in the Elemental Nations to his explanation, but he decided that he wouldn't reveal the fact that they had actually jumped through dimensions.

The group just stared at him, clearly baffled at Kakashi's statement. "What do you mean Kakashi?" Erza asked. "We've seen him do so much more than just use dragon slayer magic. Actually I don't think he's ever actually used it on a mission with us!"

"Where Natsu and I come from, the fighters, or mages, are called shinobi, or ninja." Said Kakashi.

Erza nodded, rubbing her chin as if trying to remember something. "Yeah... I think Natsu mentioned something about that before actually. But it was before you joined..." She said, trailing off at the end.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well that's fine I guess, just tell me if I'm explaining something that Natsu already told you." He said, prompting a nod from the rest of the team. "Great. So, shinobi are essentially trained soldiers, and from a young age are trained in various combat styles. The main three are ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu." He explained. He looked around at the team's mix between shocked and blank expressions. Sighing, he asked them, "You with me so far?"

Mavis nodded, signaling that she needed no further explanation. Erza tilted her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows. "But why would young children need to be trained as soldiers?" She asked.

Kakashi looked out the window, adopting a sour expression. "It's... complicated. Let me finish and then I can tell you if we have time." He said.

Erza nodded and went silent, waiting for Kakashi to continue. But Gray had a question to ask. "So what are those three things you mentioned?" He asked.

Kakashi briefly gained a tick mark, clearly a little frustrated at Gray. "I was just about to explain that..." He muttered. A few seconds later, he began explaining again. "Anyways, I'll explain the three in order." He said.

"The first of the three, ninjutsu, is the manipulation of an energy called chakra to achieve certain effects. Chakra is much like magical energy, except every single person where we come from is born with it, and instead of being stored in a large container, it runs through our bodies like a second set of veins. Losing all your chakra is almost always fatal, so it comes at a higher risk than magical energy. As for actual ninjutsu, it's _extremely_ varied in it's usage." He said.

"Almost every technique you see Natsu and I perform is ninjutsu, and using it usually requires the use of hand seals, which I'm sure you've seen us do before." He said, prompting a nod from them all, minus Mavis.

"Next up is taijutsu. This one is far more simple, as it's basically a fancy name for hand-to-hand combat. It doesn't require the use of chakra, so it's usually what shinobi will use if they don't have enough chakra for ninjutsu or genjutsu." He explained.

Kakashi took a deep breath, winded from talking for so long. But it was for good cause, everyone on the team understood him perfectly fine, no questions required.

"Lastly, genjutsu is the use of chakra to place people under illusions. Not many people are good at this since it requires the user to have very good chakra control." He said.

Mavis still had a few questions about the new concepts that had just been explained to her. "So are there different kinds of ninjutsu? Like how there are a bunch of different kinds of magic? And what kind of ninjutsu does Natsu use?" She asked, leaning forwards intently.

Kakashi responded. "While there are different kinds of ninjutsu, there are far less than the different kinds of magic, but explaining them would still take a long time, so I'm going to skip that for now and just answer your questions about Natsu." He said, gaining a nod of understanding from Mavis.

"Natsu's favourite style of ninjutsu to use is one that is only known to be able to be used by him, and his father before him. It's quite interesting, really, it allows him to control sand. Furthermore, sand will automatically defend him from attacks, regardless of him doing anything whatsoever."

Mavis raised an eyebrow before sighing. "I think it would be a lot cooler to see in person..." She muttered.

Kakashi laughed. "Actually you're right, just talking about it sounds pretty boring. But for now, we're gonna see your magic, because we just arrived!" He exclaimed, pointing out the window at the approaching town.

A FEW HOURS LATER, NEAR THE WYVERN'S DEN

On the side of a steep mountain, we find Team Seven slowly trudging their way up to the wyverns nest. They had already been walking for a little over an hour, and Lucy already resorted to summoning Horologium from the celestial spirit realm. Mavis also grew tired of walking, and her short legs didn't help much against the steep hill. To counter this, she simply floated alongside them, much like Natsu.

But much _unlike_ Natsu, she was a constant chatterbox. Throughout the entire trip, she constantly popped out small, unimportant questions and other jibber jabber like a popcorn machine shooting off popcorn.

Erza and Kakashi led the group, quietly talking among themselves and trying to ignore Mavis' constant noise. They figured it would be better to let Aki or Gray handle the questions, since they could somehow keep up with Mavis' seemingly endless energy.

"Woooow! Look over there! those flowers are so pretty!" Exclaimed Mavis, pointing at a nearby patch of flowers and hovering alongside Aki, who was in turn beside Gray. She preferred to float in a sitting position, as if she was sitting upon a chair with her legs dangling off the edge, unable to touch the ground.

Gray was staring off into space, clearly not paying much attention. "Yeah..." He muttered. Aki on the other hand didn't hear the question at all, and instead entertained herself by playing various games with Happy, such as rock, paper, scissors, I-Spy, and... you get the idea.

"What's wrong Gray? You seem out of it." Said Mavis, taking a sideways glance at Gray.

Gray leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I guess... There's just so much to think about really. Not to sound rude or anything, but how are you even alive? How come you're so young? What happened to Natsu? I'm sure Kakashi knows something we don't, but he won't tell us!" Gray said all at once, sighing in frustration directly after.

Mavis looked down as she inwardly debated. _I could tell them how I'm here... but would Natsu be mad? I don't want to do something he doesn't want after he literally brought me back from the dead... But I also want to know just where he is!_ Finally, coming out of her thoughts, she sighed and took a deep breath, ready to explain.

"I actually don't know what exactly happened to Natsu, But I can tell you why I'm alive. It's because Natsu brought me back to life." She said.

Gray froze. His eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what Mavis just told him. _Natsu... brought her back to life?... he can do that?! That power... It's not human, it's the power of a god. The power to bring the dead back to life... still though, I can't help but think... can he can revive... Ur?_ Gray wondered.

After a few seconds, he snapped out of his thoughts by Aki calling out to him. Realizing he had stopped walking, he jogged back up to where they were.

"Why'd ya stop, Gray?" Aki asked.

Gray stared at her in disbelief. "You didn't hear what she said?... NATSU LITERALLY BROUGHT MAVIS BACK FROM THE DEAD, AKI!" He exclaimed, waving his arms around.

Aki's reaction to the big news was far less... intelligent... than Gray. When Gray said the words, she paused for a second, before her eyes went wide with excitement and a wide grin came over her face. She shot her arms up in the air and exclaimed. "IT JUST MAKES NATSU THAT MUCH MORE AWESOME!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed cheerfully in between bites of his precious fish.

Kakashi heard them talking and inwardly smiled. _If only they knew just how much Natsu sacrificed to use that technique... Maybe I should tell them? I was going to let them decide whether or not tell people, but it seems Mavis doesn't care._

"If you're still wondering, the reason why Natsu isn't here right now is because he used a technique to bring Mavis back from the dead." Kakashi spoke aloud, gaining the attention of the four behind him, as well as Erza beside him.

Aki looked baffled. "What do you mean? How come he's been away for so long if he just used some magic?" She asked.

Kakashi laughed loudly. "Just some magic, eh? Well I can tell you right now, it wasn't magic, it was a jutsu that only a select few people have access to." He said.

Aki stared at him blankly. "Jutsu?" She asked.

Kakashi looked at her quizzically for a few moments before slapping a hand against his forehead. "Oh that's right, you were asleep..." He muttered. "Well..." He began.

Kakashi went on to explain basically everything that he had already explained to the rest of them on the train, except in a little less detail to save some time. He told her about chakra, as well as ninjutsu, but decided to leave out everything else.

When he mentioned shinobi, Aki unwrapped her scarf and formed the most butchered tiger hand seal Kakashi had ever seen. Happy followed suit, forming a seal of his own with his tiny paws. "NIN NIN!" Aki exclaimed.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

At the end of his explanation, Aki just nodded her head, letting them know that she understood what he had just said. "So the thing he used to bring Mavis back was a jutsu?" She asked.

Kakashi nodded. "Mhm."

Aki once again adopted a puzzled expression. "But I still don't understand why he's been gone for so long if all he did was use one of these jutsus." She said.

Kakashi looked dead serious. "The jutsu that Natsu used was no ordinary technique. It's extremely rare to be able to use, and under normal circumstances, it spells certain death for the user." He said, causing the entire team to gasp.

Mavis had never felt so bad in her entire life. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she began trying to hold back sobs. She subconsciously stopped floating, just standing there in shock. _Did... did I cause someone to sacrifice themselves for me?... N-no..._ She began to think, but Kakashi's speaking snapped her out of her thoughts.

Seeing their distress, Kakashi quickly began to explain the rest of what he was saying. "Hold on now, I did say 'normal circumstances', didn't I?"

Mavis's head snapped up and she stared at him. "S-so Natsu is s-still alive?" She shakily asked, on the verge of tears.

Kakashi eye smiled and nodded. "Yep!"

The team let out a huge sigh of relief, their worries vanishing at Kakashi's statement. Mavis smiled brightly and wiped at her eyes, clearing the traces of water that had appeared. She once again began floating, coming up to her sitting position.

Erza was next to speak. "So what's the catch then? How did Natsu survive using the jutsu if it means certain death for the caster?" She asked.

"You see," Kakashi began. "the reason why it always kills the caster is because it simply requires more chakra to use than any person should have. Every person to have ever used it has died from basic chakra exhaustion."

"Then how?" Erza asked.

"To put it simply," Kakashi spoke with a shrug. "Natsu just has so much chakra that he didn't die."

The entire group's jaws dropped to the ground at this, and they breathed out a collective "Wow..."

Suddenly, Kakashi turned dead serious yet again. "But there's more to it." He said. "To use the technique and live, Natsu essentially 'sacrificed' a large portion of his maximum chakra to power the jutsu. He told me that it'll take almost three years for it to regenerate, so until then his max chakra reserves will be almost forty percent lower than normal."

Mavis stared in shock, thinking about what Kakashi just said. She looked at the ground beneath her sadly and spoke in a really weak voice. "But why would he go so far for someone he's never met?..." She said, but it came out more like a mutter.

Suddenly, a brand new voice was heard directly behind her.

"I honestly * _cough*_ have no idea * _cough*_."

It sounded raspy and weak, as if the person speaking was deathly ill. Couple this with the coughing, and it really sounded as if the person was going to die at any minute.

Mavis, who had not yet turned around, noticed the shocked expressions of all the members of Team Seven, even Kakashi. Aki broke out into a huge grin and waved in the voice's direction.

"Yo! I knew you'd be back soon!" She cheered.

Happy flew up and landed on Aki shoulder. "Hi!" He exclaimed, waving with a little blue paw.

Mavis' eyes went wide. _Could it be?..._ she wondered. _But how did someone even get behind me without anyone noticing? And how did he get here in the first place?_

As she slowly turned around, she got a good look at the person. He wore a red coat that extended down to his knees, with a split in the front and back past the waist. Jeans covered the lower half of his body, and plain white sneakers were on his feet. Over his right eye there was a cloth headband with a metal face plate, and his hair was salmon-pink with white on the ends.

But other than his appearance, the most noticeable thing about him was just how weak he looked. His cheeks were gaunt and his eyes sunken. The parts of his hair where pink met white looked more like the pink was just loosing it's colour, and he was leaning heavily on an ancient looking double bladed scythe.

Despite all this, the guy had a smile on, as if nothing were wrong at all. Mavis wondered aloud this time. "Natsu?..."

Natsu took one hand of his Lifehunt Scythe and waved with a smile. "That's me!"

Before he could speak another word, Mavis dashed forwards and wrapped her arms around him, engulfing him in a tight hug. She just stayed there for a few seconds with her eyes closed, saying nothing.

"Thank you..." She finally said.

Natsu looked down at her with a heart warming smile and patted her back. "You're welcome."

Suddenly they heard Gray's voice from where the group was standing. "Oi! Hurry up! We've got a job to do in case you've forgotten!" He called out to the two.

Mavis took her arms off Natsu and hurried back to the group with a grin. "Coming!" She yelled.

But as it turned out, traversing the rocky mountain side was harder than it looked while barefoot. Just after she started running towards the rest of the team, her little foot clipped one of the outlying rocks, and she slowly began to wobble and fall. "AHHHHHH!" She shrieked as she fell.

She hit the ground in a very wendy-like manner, laying on the ground face down with her arms outstretched in front of her.

Natsu watched the scene with a massive sweat drop. _So this is the first master, eh? Something tells me that I don't need to refer to her as 'Lord First'..._

Natsu walked over to her with a sigh and lifted her off the ground, placing her on her feet. Giving her the once over, he noticed a small cut where her foot had struck the rock. He kneeled down and placed his hand over her foot, and the cut just faded away as if it were never there.

Mavis' eyes became stars at the sight as she watched with amazement. "Wooow!" She exclaimed. "You can do healing magic too!"

Natsu got back up and picked up with scythe to lean on again. He dusted off his jeans and looked at her with a mischievous grin. "Yep, but try not to get yourself hurt too much, I didn't revive you only for you to go hurt yourself every mission."

Mavis put a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Ok! But are you going to come with us on the job now?" She asked.

Natsu smirked at her. "What do you mean 'now'? I've been here for almost half an hour!" He said, shocking the group excluding Kakashi.

Mavis stared at him. "How?" She asked.

Natsu grinned. "Like this!" He exclaimed. Suddenly, he slowly started vanishing into thin air from the feet upwards. "I guess you could say I was the true ghost of Team Ghost!" He shouted at Kakashi, still invisible.

Kakashi waved him off dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Mavis looked at the spot where Natsu once stood bug-eyed. _What kind of trick is that? I can't even sense his magic presence anymore! It's like he just disappeared without a trace!_

The other members of Team Seven simultaneously face palmed. Lucy, who was still in Horologium, didn't face palm, but she shouted something that couldn't be heard, so Horologium translated for her.

"So that's how he just shows up out of nowhere!; She says with shock." Horologium explained.

"I think that's pretty obvious, Lucy." Said Happy with a shrug.

"SHUT UP CAT!; She exclaims with anger." Horologium said.

Mavis watched the scene, holding back small giggles of laughter. But after a second, she turned back to the spot where Natsu turned invisible. "What's Team Ghost? I thought this was Team Seven?"

Natsu came back into visibility and nodded. "Yeah, it is Team Seven, but Kakashi and I used to be part of a two man team before we left on our decade quest. It was called Team Ghost." He explained.

Mavis tilted her head and brought a finger to her chin. "Why the name 'Team Ghost'?"

Natsu smirked and bent down again. "Because of this." He said. He then proceeded to put his hand into the ground, phasing through it as if it weren't even there.

Mavis watched him with fascination. "So Kakashi can do that too?" She asked.

Natsu nodded and stood back up, once again leaning on his scythe.  
"Yep. Now, let's go kill some wyverns!"


	22. CH-22: Phantom Troubles

**I think I'm gonna start making the chapters shorter and more frequent. It'll make it way easier for me to edit and stuff. What do you guys think?**

" **FAIRY'S DIVINE PILLARS!** "

Beams of pale gold light erupted from the ground at random around the currently levitating first master of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermilion. The group had been clearing out the wyverns nest for only a few minutes, and yet half of the nest was already destroyed. Broken egg shells and other rubble lay scattered on the limestone floors of the wyvern nest, and the walls were illuminated constantly by the magic being used within the cave. The remaining wyverns huddled together at the back of their den, shooting off streams of fire at small group of Fairy Tail mages.

The rest of Team Seven would've aided Mavis further in clearing out the wyverns, but beforehand she'd told them that she wanted to show them a bit of her magic as well as practice a bit, her logic being that not using any magic for over one hundred years ought to leave a person a little rusty.

So Team Seven just stood back and watched Mavis single handedly take on and defeat a whole nest of wyverns, much to the chagrin of Aki. Even though the budget dragons had thick skin as well as scales to protect themselves, Mavis' magic tore through them like they were no more than glorified geckos.

She had quite the array of spells, and they all seemed to have quite different effects. Just a few minutes earlier, they'd seen a spell called Fairy Beam tear through several wyverns standing in a row, going through the first and out the last like a worm traveling through a series of books.

Just after that, they witnessed one of her defensively oriented spells effortlessly block a wyverns' full fire breath attack, which was nothing to scoff at in the least. Even after all this, Mavis never seemed to slow down. She didn't look any more tired than when she started, save maybe some deeper breaths.

"Wow... she's really goin at it, huh?" muttered Gray, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yep!" exclaimed Aki, looking at Mavis with admiration. "After all, she's the one who founded our guild! She has to be awesome!"

Erza watched the Mavis unleash another devastating spell on the poor wyverns. "Yeah, she definitely is." She said, nodding.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked over at Erza with an eye smile. "Well you're finally starting to loosen up." He stated.

Erza looked over at him with an eyebrow raised and frowning in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. Natsu snickered in the background, but it went unnoticed.

"I can just tell," Kakashi started. "the way you speak, the posture you hold, it's far different than when I first met you."

Erza blinked at what he just said. She was rather surprised at his declaration to be perfectly honest. Not at what he said about her now, but how he said she acted beforehand. _Did they all really see me as so tough and orderly?_ She wondered, but a second later she pretty much answered her own question. _Of course they did! Now that I think about it, all I ever really did was order them around and tell them what NOT to do... How could they not see me as some sort of by-the-book rune knight?_

She looked up at Kakashi, who was still eye smiling as he watched Mavis take care of the wyverns. _I'm going to have to work on it... but I'll get there eventually._ She thought with determination. _Still though, did I subconsciously start acting more casual around Kakashi? Have I really come to trust and like him this much?... I've only known him for around a year, not counting his absence, and yet it feels like I've known him for years._

Deciding to think more on the matter later, she put it on the back burner and focused on the matter at hand, which happened to be wrapping up fairly quickly. Mavis somehow managed to kill _every_ single wyvern in the den without getting a single bit of dirt or blood on her pink dress, or even her wavy golden hair.

Mavis giggled as she skipped her way back to where the team was waiting. In her opinion, the mission had gone _perfectly_. She mentally went through her little to-do checklist in her head. _Use my magic? Check! Impress my new team? Hopefully check? Meet Natsu? Check!_

But this caused her to be distracted, and with distraction comes carelessness. She was almost back to the group when she heard a faint roaring sound and a small bit of heat on her back. Her eyes went wide as she turned around, only to see a massive fireball heading straight towards her. There was no time. No time for Fairy's Tears, no time for Fairy Sphere, no time for anything. All she could do was stand there and hope it didn't injure her too badly.

However just as the raging inferno was about to reach her, blue sand, sparkling from the light of the fire, formed a protective shield in front of her. The massive stream of fire hit the makeshift shield with a crash, but the heat didn't get through, and the blue sand didn't even crack, move, or anything really. It just stayed in that same formation, protecting the girl from harm.

Mavis spun around and saw Natsu, leaning on his scythe with his hand outstretched. But there was something else in the picture. A massive jar looking object was strapped to his back. She noticed that the lid was off, and tiny particles of blue sand leaked out. _Why is the sand blue?_ She wondered. _And why does he keep it in that huge jar? Isn't it heavy?_ She figured that she could ask Natsu soon enough.

The blue sand started moving once again and flowed like a small stream of water towards the half-dead wyvern that shot the fireball at her. It arranged itself into a decently large spike, and hovered above the downed wyvern for a few seconds before plunging downwards and impaling the creature through the chest.

It let out one final roar as it perished, flailing it's neck around before finally coming to a rest, never to move again. Mavis turned back to the group and saw Natsu beckoning her over. She complied and happily skipped over to them, her long hair and dress trailing behind her as she went.

Natsu laughed softly as she came within a few meters of them. Mavis tilted her head in confusion as to why Natsu was laughing. Natsu noticed this and pointed behind her. She turned around to see what he was pointing at, and just now noticed all the destruction she caused, which subsequently happened to be what Natsu was pointing at.

Craters and scorch marks littered the floor, ceiling, and walls. The stalactites and stalagmites that once jutted out from the ceiling and floor now lay either shattered or crumbled on the ground. The corpses of wyverns were scattered on the ground, all of them having numerous injuries. Overall, it looked like the cave was about to collapse.

Mavis looked at the team with a sheepish grin, much to their amusement. Lucy surveyed the once-normal cave with a deadpan stare. _She totally went overboard..._ Lucy thought.

Aki held her fists out in front of her in sheer excitement. "THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME MAVIS! YOU GOTTA FIGHT ME WHEN WE GET BACK!" She exclaimed with a twinkle in her dark purple eyes.

Gray went bug-eyed beside her and his jaw dropped to the floor. "ARE YOU CRAZY AKI?! DID YOU SEE WHAT SHE DID TO THOSE WYVERNS?" He yelled while pointing his finger at Mavis.

Aki grinned. "I KNOW! OUR FIGHT IS GOING TO BE TOTALLY AWESOME!" She yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

Gray face palmed. "I think you missed the point..." He muttered.

Mavis giggled at the display and went to go stand beside Natsu as the group began walking again, this time heading back to the train station to catch a ride back to Magnolia.

They walked in double file, all in pairs as they traversed the mountainside. All except for one however, and it was a certain blonde haired girl named Lucy.

As the others spoke with their respective partner, Lucy was thinking hard. _Why am I even here?_ She wondered. _There's nothing I can even contribute to this team, any time we're in a fight they can beat the enemy faster than I can even reach for my keys!_ She looked up for a second, inspecting the surrounding landscape. But while doing this, her eyes happened to wander over her six teammates, not including Happy. _And I'm pretty much a seventh wheel, now that I think about it. There's Kakashi and Erza, Gray and Aki, and now Natsu and Mavis. Maybe I should just leave the team?_

Now, opposite to what it may seem, Lucy had no hard feelings for the rest of Team Seven. After all, it was only her fault that she couldn't help, and it wasn't her decision on who they would want to be friends with.

 _But if I leave the team, should I join a different team? Or just go solo? Could I even do a job solo?_ She wondered. But as she was thinking this, she remembered something Levy had told her on her very first day at the guild.

FLASHBACK

 _Lucy was just getting to know everyone at the guild hall. It was only her first day, but she still wanted to meet everyone and introduce herself. I mean, you only get one first impression, right?_

 _She scanned the room for who she should go meet next, and decided to introduce herself to the small blue haired girl sitting in the back of the room. She had piles upon piles of books stacked around her, and she seemed to reading something on a piece of ancient-looking paper._

 _Lucy put on her best smile and approached the girl. She walked right up beside where the girl was sitting and stuck her hand out._

 _"Hi! I'm Lucy!" She said, hoping for a handshake._

 _But the girl didn't even seem to hear her, she just kept reading. Lucy sweat dropped and decided to lightly tap her shoulder in hopes of getting her attention. This proved to be effective, as the girl jumped in surprise and promptly turned to face her._

 _Lucy scratched the back of her head. "Err... sorry about that, I just wanted to introduce myself." She said tentatively, unsure of whether or not the girl she was speaking to had a temper._

 _Much to her relief, the girl just waved it off. "Ah, don't worry about it. My name's Levy!" She said, reaching her hand out and shaking Lucy's._

 _Lucy smiled happily and shook her hand back. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy!"_

 _Levy nodded and smiled at her. "Great! If you ever need a team, there's always a spot open for ya on Team Shadow Gear!"_

 _Lucy grinned. "Thanks! I'll definitely consider it! but I gotta go now, Aki says she's got our first mission!"_

 _Levy waved goodbye. "Alright! Good luck Lucy!"_

FLASHBACK END

Lucy thought back to her blue haired friend with a smile. _Maybe it's time to take her up on that offer..._

After half an hour of inner debate, Lucy finally decided she would join Team Shadow Gear. It just didn't feel right to her, being on Team Seven. She was pretty much just their glorified cheerleader at this point, and Lucy wanted to be able to contribute to a team, not just sit on the sidelines and watch as other people did all the work.

She decided to tell the team when they got on board the train. There she would have more time to explain her decision and answer any questions they may have.

WITH NATSU AND MAVIS

Mavis walked beside Natsu with a cheerful smile, surveying the beautiful valley around them with great delight. Natsu on the other hand spent most of his effort on not falling on stray pieces of rock or wet grass. And it was harder than it looked, especially while having to lean on a scythe of all things to stay balanced.

Mavis grew impatient with the silence that'd grew around them, and decided to lighten up the mood a bit. She stopped her inspecting of their surroundings, and turned her focus to Natsu.

"The others told me you could fly, is that true?" she asked, continuing to walk beside him.

Natsu maintained his downward sight line to keep sight of his footing, but he still answered her. "Yes, it's true." He said gruffly.

Mavis tilted her head and brought a lone finger to her chin. "Then why do you have to walk? Couldn't you just float along? Like this!" She exclaimed, jumping up and coming to a hover beside him in her classic sitting position.

Natsu shot her an annoyed glance for a quick moment before turning his eyes back down. "Wish I could, but I'm trying to regenerate my chakra right now, and it wouldn't really help if I started using it." He explained.

"Oh." Was all Mavis responded with. She tried to think of a new question to ask him, or something to say at least. After a few seconds, she came up with something. "How come your sand is blue?"

Natsu shook his head. "It's not sand. The blue looking stuff you saw earlier was finely ground cobalt dust." He said.

Mavis frowned in confusion. "Not sand? But Kakashi said your ability was to control sand?" She questioned.

Natsu laughed softly. "Well he didn't explain it very thoroughly then."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Natsu turned his head to look at her this time as he spoke. "While I _am_ able to control sand, I can also control any magnetic object that I can flow chakra through." He explained.

Mavis' eyes lit up and she shot her hands up in excitement. "Cool!" She exclaimed, spinning slightly in the air.

Natsu shrugged at her over joyous reaction and kept walking. But after a few minutes of silence, Mavis piped up yet again.

"So how do you like Fairy Tail? What's it like now?" She asked, staring at him with a tilted head.

Natsu grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "It's great! It's like a big family, and everyone there treats each other as such. Being there makes me feel at home and more comfortable than anywhere else in the world, and Makarov even says we're his 'children'. It's sort of creepy to be perfectly honest, but at the same time... comforting?..." He slowly trailed off, rubbing his chin in thought. But Mavis got all the info she needed.

Mavis smiled serenely as she thought about the guild she founded so many years ago. _The guild has really turned out the way I wanted. I wouldn't have it any other way._ Mavis thought, delighted at Natsu's explanation.

"Natsu..." Mavis began, blushing a little and looking away at what she was about to say.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior. "Yeah?" He responded.

"When we get back, can we go explore Magnolia together? She asked. "I haven't been here for... well, a hundred years, so I want to see how the town has changed."

Natsu smiled at her and nodded. "Of course!"

Any of Mavis' worry that she held before asking him the question instantly went away with his response. "Great!" She exclaimed with a bright smile.

It went silent between the two for a few moments before Natsu had a question. "So what was the guild like back when you were the master?" He asked.

Mavis tilted her head and brought a finger to her chin, considering his question. After a few seconds, she came up with an adequate response. "It was actually quite similar to how it is now. The only difference is that there were a lot less members, so I had to go on jobs as the guild master." She explained.

"Hmm..." Natsu pondered out loud. "How do the jobs from now compare to the ones from back then? Are they harder or easier? Was there such thing as an S-Class job back then?"

"Ehh... It's kind of hard to compare the two really," Mavis began. "Back then, the jobs mostly entailed things like solving disputes between two groups, or maybe helping some small village with a problem." She explained. "When I look at the request board now, I notice that the jobs are far mor varied. I saw things like helping an old man open a locked chest to what we just completed."

Natsu nodded slowly, but still had another question. "So how old were you when you created Fairy Tail?" He asked.

Mavis giggled and gained a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I was twelve!" She exclaimed brightly.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Twelve? How old are you now then?"

"It may not look like it," Mavis said, holding her palms out flat and closing her eyes. "But I'm actually sixteen!"

Natsu's one visible eye opened wide comically, and his jaw dropped to the floor. "EHH!? But... shouldn't you be a little... I don't know, taller?

Mavis suddenly became visibly saddened. She looked away and at the ground, her hair overshadowing her eyes. "I was cursed..." She mumbled.

Natsu saw her sudden change in mood and eyed her wearily. _I definitely touched a delicate subject with that question... I shouldn't push it, she'll tell me if she feels comfortable telling me. I'll just remain quiet for now._

But his plans were dashed when Mavis' head suddenly shot up with a bright smile, and she stared right at him. "But you freed me." She said in a soft and quiet voice, tilting her head slightly.

Natsu looked at her, visibly confused. _Well that was quicker than expected._ "What? How? I wasn't even here when you were originally alive." He said in a questioning tone.

Mavis looked up at the sky, a peaceful, yet sorrowful expression coming over her face. "I was cursed by Ankhseram..." She spoke softly. "It's known as the contradictory curse, and it's one of the most horrible things imaginable... A person who is under the contradictory curse inadvertently kills any life around them the more the person values life itself."

Natsu's eyes widened in shock and he audibly gasped. "Y-you were afflicted by such a thing?"

Mavis nodded slowly. "Mhm... but that's not the worst part of it. The contradictory curse also causes the person to be completely immortal, unable to die from any cause or age any further than they already have."

Natsu just stared at her, contemplating what had just been explained to him. _That's terrible... immortality, and yet anything around you dies, rendering you unable to speak with another person without killing them... Mavis' past is so dark, it makes me look like I grew up in Magnolia!..._

But then Natsu realized something. _Wait a minute. If the curse makes you completely immortal, then how did Mavis die? It doesn't make any sense._

"Mavis..." He said tentatively. "Not to sound insensitive or anything, but... how did you die then?"

Mavis laughed in the same soft tone she was using earlier. "That's a good question, and one I still don't know the answer to." She said. But as she was saying this she was inwardly debating. _Should I tell him about Zeria? Would he even believe me?..._ She wondered. _He did seem believe me when I told him about the curse, but this is a whole new level of believable. And part of my answer was true. I don't know exactly how I died, all I remember is hugging Zeria and then it all went black._

Mavis eventually decided to refrain from telling Natsu exactly what happened on that fateful day, but she resolved that she would tell him eventually. Deciding to bring get off their sour mood, she flashed a cheeky grin at him. "So, wanna have a friendly little spar when we get back?" She asked.

Natsu looked confused. "Hmm? I thought you wanted to go explore the town when we got back." He replied. Inwardly though, he almost face faulted. _Did she forget I'm injured at the moment?..._

Mavis' cheeks flushed red and she crossed her arms in a mock pout. "Of course I do! We'll just have to postpone it." She stated, huffing in embarrassment.

Natsu sweat dropped. "Can't we just fight tomorrow? It'll give me more time to recover chakra." He asked in a whiny tone.

Mavis suddenly gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. "OH! I forgot you were injured!" She exclaimed. Then out of the blue, tears starting forming in her eyes and she faced away from him, sniffling and stuttering. "I-I'm s-s-sorry..." she said shakily, trying to hold back a waterfall of tears.

Natsu just stared at her blankly, confused as hell as to how and why she just started crying all of a sudden. He honestly had no idea what to do in these kinds of situations. Hug her? Tell her not to cry? Completely ignore it?

These were the kinds of things he ran through his head before finally settling on her telling her not to cry. "It's fine Mavis, don't cry..." He said gently, rubbing her back slowly.

Mavis sniffled a few more times. "I'm n-not crying! I'm not c-crying at all!" she proclaimed, still facing away from him with her arms crossed.

Natsu sweat dropped and sighed at the same time. _This is going to be a loooong trip..._

MAGNOLIA TOWN, SEVERAL HOURS LATER

True enough, the train ride back to Magnolia had lasted over three hours, but luckily for Team Seven, it seemed as if Mavis had run out of questions, as she remained quiet for the majority of the trip.

And true to her word, Lucy had told her group of her decision to leave Team Seven while they were on the train. Surprisingly enough, they actually took the news pretty well. Of course, they wanted to know why, and Lucy told them, but her reasoning was actually pretty reasonable to them, and they told her that they agreed with her reasoning the best they could without sounding arrogant.

On their trip back to the guild, they discussed the various teams that Lucy could join up with that were around her skill level. Even though her now ex-teammates tried to give her a multitude of options for her new team, she had her mind set on joining Team Shadow Gear. That is, if Levy would still let her, but she didn't doubt it.

But while they were talking, they began to notice some strange behavior from the citizens of Magnolia. They seemed to be... less joyous than normal. Instead of the usual chatter and laughter than usually rang through the bright streets of the bustling city, all they heard were faint whispers, usually followed by the scurrying of footsteps. It was as if they were all... scared of something.

The two first generation dragon slayers of the group could actually hear what they were whispering, and they didn't like the sound of it.

"Poor guys..."

"Do you think they've heard the news?"

"I don't know man, maybe..."

Aki narrowed her eyes and the surrounding townsfolk, wondering just what the hell they were talking about. Natsu eyed them all wearily before turning to the group and whispered to them.

"Something's wrong..." He said, whispering slowly.

Kakashi turned around and looked him dead in the eye, completely serious. "That much is obvious. Can you hear what they're saying?" He asked, then signaled the group to come to a full stop.

Natsu shook his head. "No, but Aki might. Her dragon slayer senses are better than mine." He admitted.

They all turned their heads to look at Aki, who looked back at them with a confused look on her face. "It's... weird. It's as if they're pitying us for something, but they didn't say what exactly." She explained.

Mavis narrowed her eyes. "I think we should get back to the guild as fast as possible. Something may have happened." She said, earning a nod from the rest of the group.

With that said they began running towards their guild hall, trying to find out what the town's people were talking about, and when they arrived, what they saw wasn't very appealing to say the least.

Giant rods of iron stuck out of the wooden building at every angle, making the once magnificent building look like nothing more than a glorified pincushion. Debris and rubble was scattered all around their guild hall, covering the ground in dust and making the land look like a construction site.

They all stared at the building in shock. Erza completely dropped the handle of her wagon, arms coming to rest beside her. Natsu, Kakashi, and Mavis narrowed their eyes at the iron rods, already trying to figure out what exactly happened. Gray just looked at the hall blankly, not believing that someone would actually attack them head on like this. Aki stepped forwards, shaking in anger. A vein pulsed in her forehead, her eyes went wide, and she gritted her teeth.

"Our guild..." Aki muttered. "SOMEONE DID THIS TO OUR GUILD!" She then yelled, staring at the metal rods as if she could make them disappear by looking at them.

Lucy gaped at the large-scale attack. "But who would do such a thing?" She asked, holding her hands over her mouth.

"It was Phantom Lord..."

The group of eight turned around at the new voice to see a sad looking Mirajane, who was the person who just spoke. She stood there looking down, holding both her hands together in front of her.

Gray narrowed his eyes. "Are you serious?" he asked, not quite believing that Phantom would actually attack them. He knew that they were somewhat rival guilds, but he never thought that they would actually come at their guild like this.

Aki's head whipped around, still looking as furious as ever. "PHANTOM DID THIS?!" She roared.

Mirajane slowly nodded. "We couldn't do a thing about it... they got us."

FAIRY TAIL'S BASEMENT

The returning team followed Mirajane down the low ceiling steps to the basement of their guild hall. It was usually used for storage, but since their main hall was destroyed, they were using the basement as a temporary place to hang out. As they walked across the shoddy room, faint conversations were heard.

"Man, I knew we weren't on the best terms with those jerks, but did they really have to go out of their way to attack us?"

"Yeah, makes me wanna go get some revenge."

"Just relax! Be thankful nobody was hurt."

Erza looked down in anger, gritting her teeth. _If only I were here... I could've stopped those bastards and-_

Suddenly Kakashi tapped her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Stop. I know exactly what you're thinking right now. You can't handle everything by yourself. We couldn't have possibly known that we would be attacked out of the blue, it's not your fault."

Erza let out a long sigh before looking up and becoming visibly more relaxed. "I know... it's just..."

Kakashi cut her off. "Just relax. Deal with what's ahead of us." He advised her.

Erza nodded. "Right."

They kept walking until they found themselves in front of a very... drunk... looking Makarov. He greeted them with a cheery wave and a drunk smile adorning his blushing face. He lowered his beer mug and looked them over.

"Hey kids! Welcome back, how was the job?" He asked in a drunken voice.

Lucy stared at the little man in utter confusion. "G-good I guess?" She said tentatively.

Makarov grinned and held up his mug as if to say cheers. "Great!" he exclaimed.

Erza decided enough was enough. She could focus on her rigidness later, for now there were more pressing matters. "Master! Do you understand the gravity of the situation!?" She exclaimed, staring at him.

"The guild's been completely destroyed!" Shouted Aki, supporting Erza's case.

Makarov waved them off, taking another sip of his beer. "Oh, don't you get worked up, it's not the end of the world y'know!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the drunk old man, crossing his arms. "Master, I agree with Aki and Erza on this one. They did not just do this to play a little prank on us. It's clearly meant to spark a war between us, which means since we aren't going to take the bait they're most likely going to be back."

Makarov suddenly burst out laughing, his beer sloshing around madly in his cup. "THEN WE'LL DEAL WITH EM THEN! Just relax!" He said, dismissing them all with a wave.

The group walked away towards a nearby table and sat down except for Lucy. As they were all sitting down Lucy waved them goodbye. "I'm gonna go see if I can join Team Shadow Gear. Thanks for letting me be on your team, and good luck!" She said, happily walking over to Levy's table.

Aki sighed as she hit her chair. "Damn it... I can't believe gramps doesn't care about our guild getting trashed like this!" She exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table.

Mavis giggled at Aki's behavior. "On the contrary Aki, Macky actually cares a lot about what happened to the hall." She said.

Aki stared at her quizically. "Then why doesn't he do something about it?! We could take Phantom Lord easily!"

Erza shook her head. "It's not that we couldn't beat Phantom Lord in a fight, we undoubtedly could. It's because wars between guilds are banned by the Magic Council. If we went to war with Phantom, there's a good chance that Fairy Tail could be disbanded." She explained.

Aki grit her teeth, clearly extremely frustrated. "Damn it..." she growled.

"Also," Erza continued. "All Fairy Tail members should stick together from here on out. We can only assume that there are Phantom Lord mages lurking around Magnolia, so going in pairs or groups would be ideal."

Suddenly Aki's angered mood changed to a rather excited one. She grinned wide. "Sweet! Gray! Wanna sleep over at my place?" She asked.

Gray grinned back at her and nodded. "Sure."

Kakashi then turned to look at Erza with a straight face. "You can stay at my place tonight if you want."

Erza blushed but nodded none the less, looking back at him. "Alright, I will." But then she seemed to realize something. She turned to look at Mavis. "Where are you gonna stay Mavis? Do you have a home in Magnolia?".

Mavis gasped, bringing her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh you're right! My old house is probably long gone..." She exclaimed.

"You can just stay with Natsu!" Aki suddenly said, grinning happily.

Mavis burst out into a smile. She pumped her fist in the air and exclaimed. "Right!"

But her sudden joy was cut to ribbons when Natsu began speaking. He frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Actually I don't even have a house..." He said, shocking the team.

"WHAT!?" Aki yelled. "WHERE DO YOU SLEEP?" She asked, pointing at him.

Natsu looked up, as if it were too complicated to explain, which it was. "Ehh... It's too complicated..."

The entire group instantly face faulted, completely flabbergasted at Natsu's attitude towards not having owned a home for upwards of seven years. Kakashi had an inkling of where Natsu slept, but he would have to ask him.

Mavis suddenly became comically depressed, slumping with her arms hanging limp. "But where am I going to sleep..." she muttered.

This time, Natsu was the one to bring her out of her short depression. "Well if it matters that much, I guess I can go get a house for you..." He said. "Follow me." He told Mavis, gesturing for her to follow him as he walked out of the damp basement.

TEN MINUTES LATER, THE FOREST SURROUNDING MAGNOLIA

Mavis had been following Natsu for around ten minutes now, wondering where the hell he was taking her. He'd said beforehand that he was going to get a house for her, so why was he getting her to follow him so far out of the city?

Suddenly, Natsu stopped abruptly and turned around to face her. The moon shone down on the pair brightly and the evening crickets chirped in the otherwise profound silence. There was a gentle breeze swirling around them, but not enough for it to be cold. They couldn't see anything beyond the darkness of the thick trees besides the small glowing fireflies.

Natsu then took out a notepad and a pen, taking the cap off with his mouth and putting the pen to paper. He looked at her expectantly. "So what do you want your home to be like?"

Mavis stared at him quizzically. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Natsu sighed. "I'm about to build your house, so I need to know what you want it to look like. Y'know, how many rooms, what kind of rooms, decorations, that kind of thing." He explained to her, tapping his foot waiting for her to answer.

Mavis was still incredibly confused. He was just going to build her a house? Just like that? Wouldn't it take time? Like, way more time than just tonight? But she decided to go along with it anyways. After all, he'd brought someone back from the dead, maybe he could build a house in one night?

She grinned and her eyes became starry. "I want it to be like a big tree house!" She exclaimed.

Natsu sweat dropped, but wrote it down on his paper anyways. "Right. Got it, what else?" He said, looking back up at her from his paper.

Mavis suddenly started gesturing around while explaining her ideal house, it was quite comical really, but she provided detailed descriptions none the less. Natsu's notepad ended up looking something like this.

 _ **Mavis' House:**_

 _\- tree house_  
 _\- big rainbow tree?_  
 _\- several rooms circling around the trunk, master bedroom on canopy with glass roof_  
 _\- lacrima lights hanging down from canopy 'like stars' (sounds cool actually)_  
 _\- rooms made of dark wood_  
 _\- slide from the top to the bottom... (may require further testing)_  
 _\- open platform for barbecue_  
 _\- wooden fences surrounding the base of the tree, with a fairy tail logo on the front gate (to be expected)_  
 _\- surrounded by a mysterious fog? (what?...)_

Natsu looked down at the compiled list and sighed. _The things she comes up with... a pet room? Seriously? What kind of pets does she keep?_ It honestly confused him. But a few of the things looked pretty cool in his opinion, so it wasn't all bad.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Mavis speaking yet again. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "How could I forget? Make sure there's enough room in the master bedroom for two beds."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her strange request. "Two beds? Why?" He asked.

Mavis smirked. "Well, unless you wanna sleep in my bed with me?..." She teased.

Natsu sighed. _Of course she would say something like that..._ "I'm living here too? And sleeping in your room?" He asked her with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

Mavis put her hands on her hips and looked at him as if he were completely stupid. "Of course you are! You've got no house, and you think you're gonna build one for only me? No way mister. And you're sleeping in the master bedroom with me because there's no way I'm going to make you sleep in one the guest bedrooms."

Natsu smiled as she told him. After her entire explanation he bowed his head to her in gratitude. "Thank you." He said.

Mavis smiled gently. "It's me who should be thanking you, Natsu." she said in a soft voice.

Natsu looked over his list one more time, this time with his sharingan to memorize it. He then put the notepad and pen back into a seal on his arm. Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, he got into a ready stance.

Mavis lay down on the forest floor belly down, hands supporting her face as she watched him. _This oughta be amazing. What kind of jutsu is this gonna be?_ She wondered just what kind of jutsu could create a house exactly to her specifications.

Natsu took a deep breath, in and out. He visualized exactly what he wanted the home to look like, down to every last detail. Even the pet room. He formulated exactly which handseals he would need to get the colours, rooms, and designs to a perfect standard. In total, he would need over ten thousand, but it would cost him little chakra, which was good since he'd only recovered around ten percent of his chakra since using the rinne rebirth.

Finally, he launched into the chain of hand seals. Snake, Monkey, Bird, Ram, Snake, Bird, Dragon, Tiger, Ram... it went on and on, with him standing in the same position, nothing moving except for his hands. Small beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he focused his chakra. When Hagoromo had taught him wood style, he showed him the hand seals for the four pillar house technique. But Natsu took it further. He realized that as long as you started and ended with the snake seal, you would still end up with a wooden house. It was actually the seals in between the two that affected what the house would look like. It took a full week before he mastered it, but it turned out to be incredibly useful.

Mavis watched in fascination as his hands moved through the various signs. _I wonder what those signs actually do... help them focus? Or are the techniques just impossible without them? Do all jutsu require this many hand signs?_

Never before had Natsu's hands actually started to hurt during a jutsu, but there were just so many to complete this time that he couldn't help but get sore in his fingers and wrists. But there were only about a thousand seals left, so he just had to push through. Monkey, Horse, Dog, Bird, Dragon, Rat, Ox, Horse, Monkey... he could almost imagine the very creatures the hand seals portrayed as he blazed through them.

Finally, he arrived on the last few hand signs. Monkey, Rat, Horse, Ox, Snake. Kneeling down, he slammed his hands into the ground and roared in a ritual like voice.  
" **WOOD STYLE: HOUSE OF TEN THOUSAND SEALS** "  
As soon as the words were said, the ground started rumbling. It felt like a small scale earthquake was occurring just where they were, and it amazed Mavis to no end.

A second later, the ground in front of them split open, revealing a small oak sapling. It sprouted out of the crack in the ground, traveling a few meters upwards before coming to a halt. It stayed like this for a moment, before suddenly shooting up at insane speeds, growing at a rapid pace. It pushed aside all the trees beside it, creating it's own small clearing around itself. The trunk of the tree was at least ten times bigger than a normal oak tree, and even the roots were bigger than the regular oak trees themselves. Once it was done with it's rapid growing, it was at the very least twenty meters tall, reaching above the other trees like a skyscraper against mundane houses.

But the most amazing part about it was the leaves. At the very top of the tree, the canopy, sprouted the most amazing foliage Mavis had ever seen in her life. Their rainbow colouring shimmered glamorously in the moonlight like polished gold, and the colours seemed to be constantly in motion with the breeze swaying the leaves around coupled with the moonlight shining down upon them. It was truly a grandeous sight, and one Mavis would never forget.

However the tree didn't remain still for long. Seconds after the main trunk had finished growing, thick branches began to grow from the side of the tree, slowly growing into cylinder like rooms with small circular windows. Then, true to her wishes, a long, wooden half pipe grew from the bottom, in front of where the front door would be, all the way up into the canopy, disappearing into the magnificent leaves.

With the main house done, farm-style wooden fences began to grow around the whole structure, coming out of the ground much like the original tree. In the middle of the long fence was a small gap, allowing for people to walk through easily. Directly ahead of that was a large, door shaped whole in the trunk of the tree.

Mavis took in the whole scene with a delighted smile on her face. She never imagined that someone could just take all her fun ideas and turn them into reality in a few minutes! _It's even better than I imagined!_ She thought with glee.

But Natsu wasn't done yet. Mavis looked at him and noticed him frowning in thought, rubbing his chin. She was confused. Was something else supposed to happen?

"What's wrong Natsu?" She asked with concern. "It looks great!" She exclaimed.

Natsu absentmindedly nodded, looking very lost in thought. "Hmm.. yeah... but, there's one more thing..." He slowly trailed off. _Hmm... I think I can do something with the hidden mist jutsu... didn't Nagato do something like this in Amegakure? Except with rain?_

He decided it couldn't hurt to at least try to do it. He got into the pose for the hidden mist jutsu, both hands in a half tiger seal, one above his head and one just in front of his chin. He concentrated on the surrounding moisture in the air as he used the jutsu.

" **Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu** " He called out.

As he said the words, a thick fog began to collect around the fence, but not going within the boundaries, leaving the house clear. Natsu let his arms down and walked inside the gate. He then stopped, turning around to face Mavis, who was still standing in the same spot taking in the visuals.

"Well, come on then, wanna go see the house?"


	23. CH-23: War

**Hey everyone. Really sorry for the hella long wait, and to be honest, I don't really have an excuse XD.  
Been playin a lot of games recently, so I guess I just got lazy and didn't really sit down and write for a bit.**

 **I've decided to make Gajeel a lot stronger in this story than he is in the main canon. Reasons for this is A: Gajeel is one of my favourite characters, and B: Gajeel seems like he's at least 2-4 years older than Natsu in the anime. Despite this, Natsu still fights on par with him in the Phantom Lord arc. I didn't really like that all too much, so I decided to change it up a bit in my story.**

 **Anyways, once again I'm sorry, but please enjoy!**

Over the night, most members of the Fairy Tail guild had a wonderful time. Aki and Gray wasted no time getting to training as soon as they arrived at Aki's house, and for dinner they had to go fishing, much to Happy's delight. Kakashi and Erza had a much more relaxing time, instead choosing to spend the night discussing some rather 'interesting' books, and overall just getting to know one another better.

Natsu and Mavis on the other hand... well, their night could only be described as 'unique'. As soon as Natsu invited Mavis to come explore the house with him, she bolted right through the front door faster than he could blink. She spent the entire night dragging him around, exploring the house with a child-like wonder. She pointed out exactly where she wanted all their furniture and decorations to go, which Natsu calculated mentally to add up to over half a million jewels in cost.

The pair of levitating mages only ended up going to sleep because Natsu reminded Mavis of their situation. Reluctantly, she agreed to rest for the night, if only for Natsu's sake of regaining his chakra.

The next day, Natsu felt considerably better. As soon as he woke up, he immediately felt that at least fifty percent of his chakra had regenerated. He honestly didn't expect to regain this much of his chakra over a single night, especially after having it take several days just to begin regenerating. He put it down to having less reserves than he did previously because of the loss of Asura's chakra.

Getting out of his queen-sized bed, he yawned loudly, raising a hand to his mouth. He stood up woozily and unsealed all his clothes, including the headband. He slid the strip of cloth over his left eye and shook his head to wake himself up fully.

He glanced over to Mavis' bed, and noticed she was still sleeping. All he could see was the back of her golden hair, but the slow, rhythmic breathing was enough to tell. He walked over to her bedside to wake her up, but when he was reaching over to tap her shoulder, her eyes suddenly shot open, startling him greatly.

He fell over backwards with a shout of "What the-!?" and hit the floor with a thud. He tenderly rubbed the spot where his head hit the floor and looked up only to see Mavis peering down at him, giggling and waving.

He sighed and stood back up. He decided to ignore the small mishap and told Mavis to get ready to go to the guild.

WITH MAVIS AND NATSU, MAGNOLIA CITY

As Mavis and Natsu walked through Magnolia city on their way to the guild hall, once again, they noticed the looks of pity and whispers from the citizens of the normally delightful town.

Mavis glanced around at them cautiously. _It's very strange that they're still acting this way. Everyone at the guild already knows, so there's no reason for this weird behavior anymore. Did something else happen?_ She wondered.

She then floated up a bit and leaned into Natsu. "Why do you think they're still acting like this?" She voiced her thoughts with a whisper.

Natsu, who was also levitating, looked around at the surrounding townsfolk wearily. He leaned back over to her and whispered back. "I don't know. Something else must have happened." Natsu rationalized. Mavis nodded in agreement and turned back to the road in front of them.

A couple minutes of floating later, they saw ahead of them a large group of people gathered around a tall oak tree. The pair moved forwards and tried to peer through the dense crowd, but it proved to be futile, so they simply flew above the group to get a better look.

When the tree finally became visible, they saw Levy, Jet, and Droy completely beaten up and hung on the tree by their wrists. They were all unconscious, and on Levy's bare stomach there was a Phantom Lord guild insignia painted in black.

Natsu surveyed the horrifying scene with narrowed eyes. _Phantom Lord is trying really hard to start a war with Fairy Tail... but for what purpose? There's no way it's just to prove that Phantom is better than Fairy Tail... actually, scratch that. Jose is their master, it could very well be for that reason._

Mavis gasped and went wide eyed as she surveyed the display. While she was deeply angry with Phantom Lord for doing this to her friends, she couldn't help but be worried. It's very clear that Phantom Lord is trying to spark a war between the two guilds, and normally Makarov would be aware of this and not take the bait, but she didn't think he would be able to just ignore this.

Natsu looked down at the crowd and noticed that all of Team Seven were already there. Aki and Gray looked like they were just about ready to explode, while Erza looked plenty angry, but she was far less... volatile. Kakashi on the other hand showed no outward signs of being mad, but Natsu knew that he was indeed angry.

He looked further and noticed Makarov shaking in anger, his coat was fluttering behind him due to the unintentional magical power he was letting off with his anger. The veins in his forehead were visible through his skin, and the wooden staff he was holding cracked and splintered into pieces.

He suddenly started speaking. "I can stand our guild hall being torn down... BUT HURT MY CHILDREN, AND WE GO TO WAR!"

Kakashi looked straight up at where Natsu was floating beside Mavis. He made sure Natsu was looking at him before tapping his right eye. Natsu understood the signal and nodded in confirmation. Kakashi then whispered something to Erza before disappearing in a swirl. Natsu followed suit and leaned over to Mavis, whispering "I'll be right back.", before also disappearing in swirl.

THE KAMUI DIMENSION

Natsu appeared in the endless void of the Kamui dimension on a bright blue hexagonal pillar. He stood beside Kakashi, and a few feet away was a make-shift bed and a basin of water. He turned to Kakashi only to see him eyeing the bed setup strangely.

"So this is where you recovered your energy?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah. Wasn't too bad actually, thought it was a little on the cold side, so I brought along a blanket." Natsu replied half-joking.

Kakashi just shrugged. "Well if it works, it works I suppose." He rationalized. "Anyways," he continued. "Makarov is quite clearly walking right into a trap here."

Natsu nodded once again. "Yeah... and I don't think there's any way we can convince him to change the plan." Natsu added.

"I agree," Kakashi responded. "So I think we should split up." He proposed.

Natsu raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Oh?" He questioned.

"You and Mavis should stay in Magnolia in case whoever wrecked our guild hall comes back for more. Erza and I will go with the main group and make sure nothing bad happens." Kakashi explained.

"I agree with your plan apart from one thing." Natsu responded. "I think Phantom Lord might've taken Lucy for some reason. After all, she was with Team Shadow Gear last night, and yet she isn't strung up to that tree right now."

Kakashi blinked in surprise at having missed that seemingly obvious fact. "You're right. I'll look for her when I go with Makarov on the assault."

Natsu shook his head. "No. I don't think you'll find her there. From what I've heard, Phantom Lord has several branches of their guild, many of them closer to us than the main hall, so I don't think Makarov will be taking you to the headquarters, where Lucy most likely is."

Kakashi slowly nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. "I suppose so... Very well. You're going to need to figure something out on your own this time, I don't see what I can do while I'm helping Makarov and the others fight Phantom Lord."

Natsu nodded affirmatively. "Alright. Now let's head back, they might leave without you."

OAK TOWN, PHANTOM LORD BRANCH

In the Phantom Lord guild hall, the mood was quite joyous at the moment. The large, circular room made of stone was lit up by several candles, giving the place an ominous lighting effect. The members of Phantom Lord were all seated around their long tables, drinking and cheering in celebration.

Three Phantom Lord wizards walked down the small aisle going through their organized tables on their way to the request board. The trio loitered around the cork board panel for a few moments before grabbing a piece of paper and ripping it off the board, taking it along with them as they walked back towards the front door.

"Let's go do some work!" Cheered one of the three.

Another one smirked. "Yeah, and on our way back we can pluck some Fairy Wings like Gajeel!"

But their plans were cut short. As they got to the front doors, grinning in anticipation, they didn't expect the doors to explode backwards in a plume of fire and smoke, carrying the poor trio of Phantom mages along with them. They hit the wall of the second floor loft with a loud crash followed by a cloud of dust surrounding the landing site.

The stunned mages of Phantom Lord stared at the now open doorway only to see guild of Fairy Tail, fronted by Aki and Gray who had punched the doors out. The entire party looked angry and ready for a fight. Everything was silent for a few moments before Makarov suddenly yelled.

"FAIRY TAIL HAS COME KNOCKING!"

With a resounding war cry the entire guild of Fairy Tail charged at the now grouped up Phantom Lord mages. The two groups collided with the sounds of explosions and clashing steel filling the air around them. Even though Phantom Lord heavily outnumbered Fairy Tail, it was made clear through the fight that quality beats quantity.

Every Fairy Tail mage was taking on at least five Phantom wizards at the same time, and the more well known members such as Loke, Cana, Macao, and Wakaba were teaming up to take on larger groups of the enemy.

Aki and Gray went on the rampage through the now disorganized crowd of Phantom Lord mages, sending them flying every which way with their dragon slayer attacks of fire and ice. Bisca and Alzack were doing particularly well, their superb gun magic was capable of hitting multiple targets easily, so this was the perfect situation for them per say.

The others were doing just as well as Aki and Gray. Cana was drawing cards out of her little purse like crazy, shouting off card combos at a rapid pace. Macao and Wakaba had some nasty combos of their own, such as the classic 'crowd control then knockout'. Loke was using his various rings magics to dispatch the enemy en masse, all while keeping his calm and cool appearance.

Elfman was simply hitting the puny Phantom mages with his monstrous strength and beast arm. His shouts of 'being a man' was fairly confusing for his opponents, but he swatted them down like flies none the less. His arm however drew a few cries of recognition from the opposing forces.

"What the hell happened to his arm?!" Exclaimed one.

"It's take over magic..." Another explained.

"WAIT! I've heard of him! It's Elfman!" A third one yelled in horror.

"He kills monsters and absorbs their power! They call him beast arm Elfman!" Shouted another.

Meanwhile, Erza was currently in her heaven's wheel armour cutting down any enemy stupid enough to come near her. Ten swords circled around her, floating telekinetically and slashing at Phantom Lord wizards. But it seemed like she was looking for something... or rather, someone.

"Where is Black Steel Gajeel and the Element Four?!" She shouted at the surrounding Phantom mages.

But they were interrupted by a low rumbling sound. They all turned to the source of the sound only to see Fairy Tail's master with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he began to rapidly grow, eventually almost touching the wooden rafters above them. He slammed the ground beneath him with a mighty fist, sending all the mages surrounding him flying.

He then immediately reverted back into his normal size and headed straight for the stairs. He fended off various Phantom Lord wizards with one hands, not even bothering to look at them. When he had almost reached the top of the stairs, he turned his head and shouted something.

"Erza! I'll leave the common rabble to you!" He called out before disappearing from sight.

Erza raised a hand to her mouth. "Yes sir!" She yelled back.

She was about to turn back to the fight, but she became distracted watching Kakashi fighting. To put it simply... it was mesmerizing. He cut through the mages of Phantom Lord like a hot knife through butter. He never seemed to use one form of martial art for more than a few seconds. One second he would be using various kicks, and the next he would almost completely rely on his fists.

She now perfectly understood why he liked requip so much. It fit his fighting style almost perfectly. Being able to switch equipment at a moments notice went hand in hand with his seemingly random way of fighting. Every time he switched his style he would requip new weapons, such as kunai, staves, or even swords. At one point she even saw him use a pair of brass knuckles and ankle weights.

On top of his hand-to-hand combat, he weaved in jutsu and magic perfectly to cover any weak spots he might have. And true to his arbitrary style, he used all different types of magic/jutsu in quick succession. She saw him breath fire, summon walls of earth, and exhale massive gusts of wind all in a span of ten seconds.

But watching Kakashi could come later. For now, there were Phantom wizards to fight, and not a moment to waste. Shaking her head to regain focus, she lept back into the fray brandishing a pair of short swords and her regular armor.

Up on the rafters above however, a certain dragon slayer was waiting for just the right moment to join the action, and seeing as how Makarov had just left to go confront Jose, he decided that there was no time like the present. With his classic laugh of "Gihihihi" he jumped down from the raftors, landing on the upper loft in a huge plume of dust and debris.

All that was visible of him was a silhouette and an ominous pair of glowing red eyes. The surrounding battle stopped in bated suspense, waiting to finally see the newcomer, although most already knew who it was.

Erza narrowed her eyes at the silhouette. "The iron dragon slayer of Phantom Lord..." She said in a whisper like voice. "Black Steel Gajeel..."

Nab jumped up at the newly revealed Gajeel in fury. "You attacked Levy and her team!" He shouted in rage.

But as soon as he was within a few meters of him, Gajeel simply held his arm out and promptly it turned into a cylinder of iron and extended, slamming Nab into the ground and pushing him into the back wall. The attack even hit a few Phantom Lord mages, much to Fairy Tail's shock.

Gray watched the scene with surprise. "What the... he just knocked out his own guys with that attack!" He shouted.

Gajeel jumped down from his spot on the upper loft and pointed at the group of Fairy Tail mages. "Come and face me, unless you're too scared of the iron dragon slayer!" He called out.

Elfman took this statement as a challenge and jumped forward with an arm cocked back. "Too scared?! REAL MEN HAVE NO FEAR!" He screamed as he punched at Gajeel with his arm now in take-over form.

Gajeel smirked and simply raised his arm, turning it to iron at the same time. Elfman's fist slammed into Gajeel's arm with no effect. Gajeel just stood there looking as if he was expending no effort in fending off Elfman's attack, even though Elfman was visibly pushing against Gajeel's defense.

"Hmm..." Gajeel said. "Elfman, right?... not bad, but still no match for me!" Gajeel exclaimed, and pushed Elfman's arm to the side, leaving him wide open and off balance, which Gajeel took full advantage of with a brutal iron kick.

Elfman was knocked back into the air, only for Aki to actually jump off of him and shoot forwards at a surprised Gajeel. She coated her fist in her classic red flames and unleashed a mighty punch at Gajeel, who was too shocked to do anything about it and was sent flying backwards into the wall of the upper loft.

The Phantom Lord wizards were too shocked at the scene to retaliate at all. To them, beating Gajeel just seemed like it was completely impossible for anyone, save Jose. So to see a Fairy Tail mage just send Gajeel flying back was a huge illusion breaker for them.

"No way! that chick sent Gajeel flying!"

"Im seein' it, but I don't believe it..."

Elfman glared at Aki, who was waiting for Gajeel to get back up. "Aki! Not only do you interrupt our man on man battle, but you use me as a stepping stool!" He shouted in annoyance.

Aki didn't turn around, or even respond, which angered Elfman quite a bit. He was about to start yelling again, but Gray stopped him. "Elfman, this is a fight between two dragon slayers, just let her do this."

Elfman grumbled and turned away. "Fine." He said.

Just then a hand burst out of the pile of rubble that had formed under where Gajeel had crashed into the back wall. Gajeel climbed out of the rubble and resumed his cocky grin and posture. "Hmm... the Salamander of Fairy Tail, eh?"

He raised his fist, turning it into an iron pillar and shooting it forward at Aki at high speeds. Aki's eyes widened at the speed of his attack, but she had no time to dodge or counter it. The attack hit her directly in the stomach and knocked her backwards, leaving her clutching her stomach in pain.

Gray immedietly rushed over to the down Aki and kneeled beside her. He put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to see her face. "Are you ok Aki?" He asked with concern.

Aki looked up at him and grimaced. "Yeah I'm fine... but this guy is on another level, we're gonna have to team up to take him down." She said, shakily getting up on her feet. Gray stood up with her and faced Gajeel, who was watched them with narrowed eyes. Gray and Aki stared back at him, as if they were in a dragon slayer staring contest.

After a few seconds, Gajeel suddenly gained a smirk and took in a huge breath, leaning back and bringing his hands in front of his mouth. Aki's eyes widened as she recognized the attack the iron dragon slayer was about to use, so she immedietly turned to Gray.

"Gray! Unison roar, NOW!" She called out to him, gaining a nod in response. The two dragon slayers of Fairy Tail both took a deep breath and also brought their hands in front of their mouths. To the outside observers, the magical power the three dragon slayers were emitting was insane. Most stared in fear, although some in envy, admiration, or respect. It seemed as if behind each of the three dragon slayers there was a mighty dragon looming, one gray, one red, and one blue.

Gajeel leaned forward, exhaling a mighty breath of silver wind laced with shrapnel. **IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!** he shouted as the attack left his mouth.

Aki and Gray followed suit, also calling out their attack. **FIRE AND ICE DRAGON'S UNISON ROAR!** they both called out.

Gray and Aki's attacks joined together midway and met with Gajeel's roar in between the three dragon slayers, crashing into it like a wave. The two attacks pushed against each other for what seemed like hours for the pair, but in reality it was only a few seconds. Eventually the two colliding forces just fizzled out and died, leaving the three combatants panting and the rest of the room staring at their fight in awe.

Gajeel wearily stretched his back and rolled his shoulders. "That's some decent power you've got there..." he said. Then he jumped forwards, pulling an arm back and turning it to iron. Gray and Aki's eyes widened as they say the iron dragon slayer approach at speeds they were clearly unaccustomed to. He first turned to Aki, shooting his iron club arm at her in a brutal punch. Aki barely had time to raise her arms in some sort of flimsy defense, and yet that still didn't help all that much. She shot back through the air at least ten feet, landing square on her back.

"FOR A PIECE OF FAIRY TRASH THAT IS!"

Not wasting a second, Gajeel twisted at what seemed like an impossible angle, turning one hundred and eighty degrees mid air to roundhouse kick Gray. Unfortunately for Gray, he didn't have time for any sort of defense. The kick connected right on his face, knocking him back into the wall. He slammed into the stone bricks with a dull thud and slid down the wall unconscious, leaving a fairly sizable indent on the wall where he landed.

Gajeel surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction. Gray was completely out of commission and Aki was injured on the ground. He grinned, but on the inside he was sighing in exasperation. _And here I was thinking that some other dragon slayers could give me a real fight... but I suppose I was wrong._ he thought. _Well, might as well take care of the rest of the trash!_

Gajeel leaned back and took another deep breath, once again bringing his hands in front of his face to prepare yet another roar much to the horror of Erza, who had watched the whole fight from not too far away.

She knew for certain that she could take on either Aki or Gray pretty readily one on one. Both at the same time though, and she suddenly wasn't so certain. So to see someone simultaneously knock them both out, one versus two, was fairly unnerving, even for someone like her.

For the rest of the guild, these thoughts were put on overdrive. Since most of them couldn't even hold a candle to Aki or Gray, let alone both at the same time, seeing the two of the them being taken out at the same time, by one person no less, was a serious morale killer.

Then the roar came, barreling out of Gajeel's open mouth like a tornado of death. The attack was headed straight for Erza and her group of Macao, Wakaba, and Cana. The four of them watched the attack come towards them in shock, but Erza quickly took action. She took up a ready stance in front of the other three. **REQUIP: THE KNIGHT!** she shouted.

A bright glow covered Erza's form briefly before dimming down to reveal her now in a massive suit of armour with two shields, one in each hand. She dug her toes into the ground, desperately trying to gain a foothold. Bringing the two shields together, she formed a magical circle and braced herself for impact.

But the blow would never come. Before the attack could reach them, a beam of pure shadows crashed into the incoming roar, stopping it outright and cancelling both of the powerful moves. Erza hesitantly peered around the edge of her shield, only to see Kakashi standing in front of them with both his fists raised in a combat stance.

Sighing with relief, she requipped back into her heart kreuz armour and relaxed a bit. She honestly couldn't be sure that her armour would have even stopped that attack, so she was grateful to Kakashi for stepping in when he did.

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow at the new appearance. He folded his arms and tilted his head to the side. "What's this? Someone who actually managed to stop my roar!" He said, narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. "WELL MAYBE YOU CAN GIVE ME A DECENT FIGHT! **IRON DRAGON'S CLUB!** " Gajeel yelled transforming his right arm into a pillar of iron and extending it at Kakashi.

Kakashi held out his left palm towards the incoming attack. Suddenly, the hand became enveloped in a sea of shadows, looking almost like a mixture of smoke and black fire. **Shadow Dragon's Devouring Fist!** Kakashi said, catching the iron club and holding still.

Gajeel's eyes widened in surprise. "Wha- another dragon slayer?!" He exclaimed, drawing a few gasps from the Phantom Lord Crowd.

Kakashi took advantage of Gajeel's momentary lapse of focus and pulled him in with his left hand, drawing his right arm back for a big hit. His right hand became coated in a bright white light, giving it a stark contrast to the pitch black of his left hand. When he pulled Gajeel within range, he let go with his left hand and punched forwards with his right, hitting Gajeel square in the jaw. **LIGHT DRAGON'S ILLUMINATING FIST!** He shouted.

For the second time that day, Gajeel was hit backwards into a wall, cracking the stone bricks it was made of. Kakashi kept both his fists lit up by their respective elements, giving him somewhat of a ying-yang appearance. Gajeel coughed a few times as he got up, dusting himself off. He turned to Kakashi and shot him an insane grin. "A dragon slayer with two elements... THIS IS CERTAINLY GONNA BE INTERESTING, GIHIHIHI!" He exclaimed, running at Kakashi with both fists transformed into iron pillars.

But before the two could engage in combat, a pained scream was heard from far above, followed by the repeated cracking and splintering of the raftors, and finally a huge thump and a dust plume in the center of the room, where it seemed like a meteorite had just landed.

All the fighting immediately ceased. Every single person in the room froze and turned to the large dust cloud in the center of the room and waited to see what would emerge. Small mutters could be heard from the various people as they waited.

"Wha-?"

"Something fell..."

"What could it be?"

But before the grand reveal could happen, a loud voice coupled with obnoxious crying was heard from the raftors above. The voice sounded extremely overdramatic and drawn out, and the sobbing was even more so.

"The sadness! Where does it come from?! It's completely overflowing!" the voice said from it's position above.

Then the dust cloud finally dissipated, revealing Master Makarov laying on his back, completely stunned and strangely enough, his skin was green. He couldn't even move, all he could do was stare at the ceiling above and wonder just how the strange crying man had even snuck up on him. _My... My magic p-power..._ he realized. _It's all been drained!_

"MASTER!"/"GRAMPS!/OLD MAN!" Cried Erza, Aki, and Gray respectively.

But the voice from above kept talking. "Sorrowful... is it because the world has just lost a great mage?" The voice said, still accompanied by that annoying sobbing.

Erza held the downed form of Makarov in her arms as they all circled around. "Master! Hang in there!" Erza encouraged.

Gray stared. "What the hell? I can't sense any magic coming from him at all!" He pointed out.

Elfman recoiled in fear. "Wait, so he's just a regular old man now?!" He asked.

Happy's tail fell to the floor in sadness and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. "Whyyyyyyyy?!" He wailed.

Aki sat on her knees and stared at him. "Gramps! Get a hold of yourself!"

Gajeel watched the scene with disappointment. He stood up straight from his ready stance and returned his arms to normal. "Man... just when things were getting interesting." He complained to himself.

Kakashi watched the group of Fairy Tail mages crowded around their master with a grim expression. _I knew this was a bait... damnit, I should've known their goal was to take out the master, why didn't I do anything about it?!_ Kakashi thought furiously.

He turned his gaze over to the exhausted mages of Phantom Lord, who were seeming to get their morale and energy back extremely quickly at the news of their enemies' master being taken down.

"Their master's been beaten!"

"Really?!"

"Guys! We can do this!"

"Yeah, their strength has been halved with their master down!"

"And we have Gajeel and the Element Four here!"

The enemy group charged forwards with their weapons drawn, letting out an energistic war cry. "LET'S CRUSH EM!"

Erza watched the scene around her with gritted teeth and a grim expression. The Phantom Lord mages had gotten their spirit back, and were now fighting the worn out Fairy Tail mages on more even ground. The battle was slowly but surely turning in their favor. She continued surveying the room until her eyes landed on Kakashi, who was still fighting in the middle of a group of Phantom wizards. They had formed a circle around him, slowly inching closer. The few who rushed out of the circle to fight him directly were swiftly taken care of by either a fist of shadows or light.

But from up close, he couldn't see what Erza could, and that happened to be three Phantom mages charging up some sort of triple element combo attack, and it was aimed right for him. She tried to warn him, shouting as loud as she could over the overpowering racket of the ongoing battle. But it was to no avail. He couldn't hear her warning and had no idea of the attack that was coming.

The Phantom Mages parted part of their circle at the last possible moment, allowing the beam to run through and hit Kakashi directly on his back, causing a huge explosion of fire, wind, and lightning.

Erza gasped and ran towards him, praying that he wasn't completely knocked out by the attack that had hit him. As it turns out, her prayer was far more than answered. When the fire finally receded, it wasn't even Kakashi that was there. No, what was there was a giant blue skeletal construct, complete with the grinning skull, two arms, and rib cage. Erza stared at the giant in awe. _I completely forgot he could do that!_ She thought to herself.

The poor little mages of Phantom Lord stared the turquoise monstrosity in pure terror. Some even fell over on their backs in fear and dropped their weapons in the process. On the other hand, the mages of Fairy Tail seemed to gain a second wind at the sight of such a being fighting on their side. They all cheered in delight while the Phantom mages whispered in fear.

"It's Kakashi!" Yelled a member of Fairy Tail.

"Remember?! That's the thing he used to defeat Gildarts!" Added on another member of the guild.

"W-w-what the hell is THAT?!" Exclaimed a Phantom Lord wizard.

"M-monster..." Muttered a terrified mage of Phantom Lord.

But everyone's words and thoughts were cut off by Kakashi's voice booming throughout the room.

"Tell me..." He slowly began.

"Have any of you ever fought the God Of Valor?!"


	24. CH-24: War II

The poor member of Phantom Lord trembled in fear as they stared up at the massive turquiose skeleton that was Kakashi's Susano'o. The blue aura it gave of radiated pure power, and it even scared some of the Fairy Tail mages. Some of the newer mages of the guild had never even seen Kakashi or Natsu prior to the few days they were back, so to see someone who looked no older than a teenager pull out something of that magnitude was quite the shocker.

A few of the Phantom Lord members who didn't have direct vision of Kakashi within the rib cage of the Susano'o were a little skeptical as to if he was really controlling the thing or not, but when he spoke, it became pretty obvious that their skepticism was misplaced.

"Have any of you ever fought the God Of Valor?"

The name of the giant sent shivers through the spines of almost all the Phantom mages, as if the name itself multiplied the intense aura the Susano'o gave off. Even the Fairy Tail mages felt the power in the name of the skeleton, although they were far less nervous due to the fact they knew it was on their side.

Aki was only taken aback for a moment, quickly regaining her senses after witnessing the breath taking technique. She grinned wide and lit her fists aflame once again. "Aw yeah! Kakashi is totally awesome!" She shouted, gaining the attention of the Phantom mages. "We'll never lose as long as he's here!" She continued.

Roars and cheers of agreement from Fairy Tail were heard all throughout the guildhall following Aki's short but motivating encouragement. Erza looked around her, noticing how all the Fairy's seemed to be getting their spirit back at seeing such a powerhouse fighting for them. She smiled, picking her weapons back up after setting Makarov down behind a line of their mages. She looked over at Kakashi standing within the rib cage of the Susano'o with his arms crossed and in a completely lax posture. To her, and many others in the hall, it just seemed as if Kakashi could do everything.

And to be honest, he probably could. After all, the man who had participated in over one hundred rival challenges with Might Guy himself, copied over one thousand jutsu, and mastered the sharingan and four forms of magic all in a time span of thirty some odd years was not the kind of person to scoff at.

Gajeel studied the skeletal figure closely. Much unlike his counterpart dragon slayer in Fairy Tail, he was not so thick headed as to jump into a fight without any forethought. The aura of power the Susano'o gave off didn't really affect him all that much, having being taught by a dragon who gave off a much more impressive radiating power. _Well this is certainly a surprise._ He thought to himself. _This is certainly not a dragon slayer attack, but it's definitely nothing to laugh at. This thing's aura alone feels almost like three quarters of Metalicana's._ Gajeel jumped up to the rafters above to get a better look at the battlefield. Some of his fellow Phantom Lord mages were getting off the floor, shakily getting ready to fight once more. Then he looked at the Fairy Tail side. Needless to say, it was much more impressive. They were quickly pushing through the ranks of Phantom Lord, and it was very clear to Gajeel that they were fighting a losing battle. _There's no way I can hope to fight that thing along with the rest of their guild. Even with Aria here, we can't defeat their entire guild with only two people. I need to retreat for now._ He thought wisely.

Calling Aria over to him from his spot on the rafters, the two mages surveyed the battlefield one last time before vanishing into thin air.

Suddenly the skeleton began to move. Although Kakashi showed no outward signs of effort from within the humanoid creation, it drew it's bony right arm back and to the left as if it was preparing for the bitch slap to end all bitch slaps. Some of the Phantom Lord mages got into some sort of defensive stance, although most just opted to stare in disbelief that such a thing even existed. The veterans of the Fairy Tail guild waited with bated breath to see the attack that had knocked out Gildarts in a single hit go to work on a bunch of pathetic Phantom wizards.

Then, as if a drawstring had been cut, the Susano'o's arm extended in the other direction, scraping it's skeletal finger tips along the ground in front of it leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in it's wake. Phantom mages were sent flying in all directions, and the few who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the blow directly were taken along for the ride, only to be flung off of the bony hand at the end.

"Susano'o..." Kakashi's voice was once again heard through the hall, booming through the silence that the aforementioned being's attack had left.

Kakashi watched as his Susano'o wreaked havoc upon the poor mages of Phantom Lord. He felt some sort of grim satisfaction watching the faces of the enemy as they tried to even comprehend his ultimate jutsu. It was like he was Madara fighting the Shinobi Alliance, and he had to say, being able to actually use the Susano'o instead of trying to fight against it was proving to be a far more simple task.

"Go, Erza! Get the master to safety! We'll finish things up here!" Kakashi shouted.

"YEAH! THIS'LL ONLY TAKE A COUPLE MORE MINUTES!" Shouted Aki, once again lighting her fists up in the signature red flames of her dragon slaying magic. Gray followed suit, going back to back with Aki and forming spheres of ice around his fists. The other prominent members of the guild readied their signature magics, showing that they too were ready to fight on.

Erza simply nodded. Taking the unconscious third master on her back, she ran out the door of the Phantom Lord guild hall. The members of Fairy Tail turned back to the waiting mass of Phantom wizards. Suddenly, Aki jumped forwards sporting a huge grin.

"LET'S GET THIS STARTED!" She exclaimed.

FAIRY TAIL GUILD HALL

Erza bursted through the doors of her own guild hall with Makarov unconscious on her back. There were only three people currently sitting in the building, but fortunately for her, one of them happened to be just the person she was looking for. She rushed over to the table they were sitting at and put Makarov down on the hard wood surface, greatly startling the trio.

The three in question were in fact Natsu, Mavis, and Lucy. Natsu and Mavis had actually just returned from having saved Lucy from the main guild hall of Phantom Lord. Well, to be more specific, it was actually Lucy who had saved herself, giving Jose an unexpected cheap shot below the belt when he wasn't looking. But as it turned out, her little prison tower was just that. A tower. Betting on her friends to save her at the right moment, she threw herself off the tower. Luckily for her, her bet paid off. Natsu's sand caught her mid flight, and she ended up being perfectly fine.

Erza looked at Natsu frantically, eyes wide and completely out of breath. "Natsu! You have to heal him! QUICK!" She shouted.

Natsu looked at the old man on the table in front of him. Externally, there wasn't anything wrong at all, save a few scratches. The only thing that seemed to be a cause of concern was his skin, which had turned green. Natsu activated his sharingan, which allowed him to see a person's magic container at a very basic level. He did the same basic once over, this time with his sharingan active, and noticed a very concerning internal problem.

Natsu looked up at Erza with a very serious expression. "What happened here? He isn't injured at all actually. The problem is that all his magic had been drained very quickly. Normally, when you run out of magic, there's still a small amount in your magic container, but at the moment there isn't even the smallest drop in his."

Erza looked up at the ceiling as she recalled. "He went to go fight Jose as we fought with the rest of their guild. Next thing we know, he's down in a heap and looks like this!" She explained to him.

Natsu gave one final glance at Makarov then looked back to Erza. "There's nothing I can do for him at the moment. Healing won't do a thing right now because there's technically nothing to even heal. Bring him to Porlyusica, she may be able to do something useful." Natsu told her.

Erza frowned. "That doesn't make any sense to me though. If you can't do anything, how could Porlyusica do anything? Your healing techniques far surpass anything I've seen her accomplish." Erza questioned.

Natsu shook his head. "While it is true that I can heal people more efficiently and to a better success rate than she can, at the end of the day, she's been around for at least eight times as long as me, and has most likely seen a case like this before." Natsu explained.

Then Mavis piped up with a question of her own. "So who's this Porlyusica person?" Lucy leaned forwards, also wanting to know.

Natsu waved Erza off. "Take him there now, I'll stay here." He told her. Erza nodded and gathered up Makarov's limp form, leaving out the front door.

Natsu turned his attention back to the two. "Porlyusica is a long time friend of Makarov. Nobody knows too much about her, except that she is presumably not a human. She's very adept at healing and medicine, so she's essentially our guild's medic."

Mavis cocked her head to the side. "Not a human? How can people tell?" She questioned.

Natsu scratched his face and frowned. "Well, it's just an assumption, since to my knowledge nobody's ever asked her directly. She constantly goes on about how much she hates humans. And when she has a "I hate humans" speech, she speaks of us as if she's not one."

"Why is she the guild's medic though if you can heal people much better?" Lucy asked.

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know really. Although if I had to guess, I'd say that it's simply because nobody knows I can do it. The only time I've ever really healed someone in front of the guild was when I first joined. And even then it was kind of hard to see. That was seven years ago."

He then turned to Lucy. "So. Any reason Phantom Lord would want to kidnap you instead of just beating you up like the rest?" He asked.

Lucy shifted her feet uncomfortably, looking straight down at the floor. _I could tell them... but would they still allow me to be a member of Fairy Tail? Is it worth the risk even? But then again, what could I even tell them if I were to lie? Maybe I could sa-_

* **BOOM** *

The trio's heads snapped up as they heard the loud sound seemingly right outside the guild hall. Whatever had made the sound had shook the very ground. They promptly rushed out the doors, only to see the biggest guild hall they had ever laid eyes upon. And it was moving. Out of the bottom of the castle like building came spider like legs that carried the monstrosity over the water.

* **BOOM** *

After a few more slow steps, the gigantic building finally came to a rest about half a kilometer away from the coastline. It just sat in the water on top of it's mechanical legs for no apparent reason, however it was quite obvious nobody would just roll their guild hall onto someone's back yard just to say hello.

Then, like a true castle, the front wall of the building slid down, revealing what seemed like an empty black room. But that theory was quickly proven false by an enormous cannon barrel slowly inching out of the abyss. The cannon was huge, to put it simply. It stretched out at least as far as the building was tall, and it's diameter was probably over fifty meters.

Really, there was only one thing to say to that kind of visual.

"Damn." Natsu breathed out as he looked up at the huge guild hall. "That thing must've cost a fortune!"

WITH ERZA

"Ugh," Groaned out Porlyusica, who was leaning over Makarov's unconscious form. "The old geezer just had to overdo it. Doesn't he know how old he is?" She asked, mostly just to vent. Walking over to her kitchen counter to prepare some medicine, she continued to mumble to herself. "What an idiot..."

Erza watched the seen with an ever growing sweat drop forming on the back of her neck. It was as if Porlyusica had completely forgotten she was even there. As soon as she brought the old man in, she'd taken one look at him and immediately set him down on the bed, ignoring everything Erza had to say.

And that was how it's been for the past ten minutes. Porlyusica bustling around her small hut while Erza stood near the door awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. But as if her Porlyusica had read her mind, she turned around and looked right at her.

"What are you still doing here?! Get out of my house!" She exclaimed, making a "shoo" motion with her hands. And then she was right back at it, going about her business like Erza was invisible.

Erza just stared in disbelief at the woman's strange behavior, but ultimately decided to just leave like she was told. She promptly exited the building through the front and only door, making her way down the dirt road back to Magnolia.

As she walked towards the town, she began to think. _Was it really a good idea to leave everyone back there? I mean, I know they're strong and everything, but could they really take on Gajeel and the Element Four? I know that skeleton of Kakashi's is incredibly strong, but can it take on five S-Class mages at the same time? What if... NO! I have to stop thinking like this. I just have to believe in Kakashi and my friends to win the battle._

Then she had a sudden moment of realization. Just the way she was thinking... she hadn't thought like that since her rebellion in the Tower of Heaven... _Why am I separating Kakashi from the rest of my friends when I think about them? Am I truly that attached to him? God, that hasn't happened since... Jellal._

 _Do I like Kakashi? As much as I liked Jellal? Wait... liked? Do I still like Jellal? Would I be able to choose between the two should the option arise? I don't think I would... but at the same time I don't think I'd have to..._ She winced as she remembered her last moments at the Tower and with Jellal... and what he'd become by the end of their rebellion.

 _Should I tell him about the tower? About my past? It seems like he always knows the right thing to say... But what if he asks if I like Jellal? What scares me is the fact that I don't know the answer... And now that I think about it, I don't know anything about his past, or where he came from. All I know is what he and Natsu told me about chakra and how he somehow became their equivalent to S-Class at the age of ten..._

 _Speaking of which... I don't think I, or anyone at the guild for that matter has ever seen Kakashi go all out... Nobody knows the limit on his power. He beat Gildarts all those years ago... but he didn't even look winded after that fight. I doubt Gildarts was going full power there, but still, neither was he._

 _And then there's the matter of Natsu. I've known him for seven years now. Well, one I guess if I don't count their not so little trip, but I still don't know for certain where he stands in terms of power. Kakashi mentioned that Natsu was strong enough to beat all of us, but Kakashi is a pretty humble guy, and from what I've seen, the things Kakashi has done far outclass anything I've seen Natsu do._

 _Could he really fight all of us? Would he win? I doubt he would agree to a fight anyways so I don't think I'll ever find that out... Maybe at the S-Class trials though? Technically those two aren't S-Class yet, and neither is Mavis, so perhaps we'll be able to see Kakashi and Natsu fight seriously there..._

 _HEY! That reminds me. How the hell did those two even get on that decade quest if they aren't S-Class? What the hell was master thinki-_

* **BOOM** *

Erza was harshly snapped out of her thoughts by an extraordinarily loud noise and the ground shaking slightly. She looked up and noticed the noise had come from the guild hall. Immediately she sensing something was wrong, she requipped into her fight armour and shot off like a bullet towards the end of town, hoping to get to the guild hall before it was too late.

But before she could reach the hall, voices from behind her in the town grabbed her attention. She whipped her head around, and noticed a huge group of people running towards her, and at the head of the group was Kakashi, Aki, and Gray.

"Erza!" The three called out to her. "Did you hear that noise?" Gray asked as they caught up to her.

"Yeah, I did. Let's head over there now, I think something's wrong!" She exclaimed. And with that, she led the group off towards the guild hall.

"What happened to Gramps?" Aki shouted at her as they ran.

Erza responded without even looking over her shoulder. "Natsu said he couldn't heal him. I took him to Porlyuisca instead and she said he'll be fine." She yelled back.

But as they turned their attention back to the road in front of them, they noticed one thing that was out of place. A massive silhouette in front of where their guild hall would be, casting an equally large shadow over the entire town. It was shaped like a huge castle, and Erza had no misconceptions as to what it was.

As they finally came within view of the coast, she stared in shock and fear at the gigantic guild hall looming over their own. The sheer size and scale of the building proved Phantom Lord's wealth and influence. And when the cannon emerged from the collapsible wall, it only added on to the feelings of terror and hopelessness. The sight caused the crowd of Fairy Tail mages to rile up quite a bit.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Exclaimed Bisca and Alzack.

"How are we supposed to fight _that_?" Yelled Vijeeter.

"THEIR GUILD HALL HAS LEGS?!" Questioned Happy.

Erza trembled a little as she watched the guild hall move closer and closer to the coastline of Magnolia. "I never could've expected this... I can't believe they'd go to such extremes to attack us!"

Aki and Gray just stared at the massive guild hall with eyes as wide as lunch platters. "What the hell..." Aki muttered, while Gray just stayed silent.

Kakashi had far less of a reaction, instead opting to figure out how to counter the immediate threat of the Jupiter cannon. Dozens of possible strategies ran through his head as he thought, although most were discarded as soon as they came up. _Assuming that cannon is going to shoot some sort of projectile... I don't think we could counter it with a straight on attack. The blast radius would encompass our guild hall anyways. Could I use Kamui on it? No, not against something of that caliber. I suppose I could crash it... but I would have to time it perfectly, and judging by how big that thing is, whatever it shoots is going to be going fast... Think, Kakashi... what can you do here? Think of every possible jutsu, every possible option, there has to be a way..._ But a shout from the crowd behind him reminded him of one key fact that he'd forgotten.

"Hey, Look! Natsu is down there!"

"What can he hope to do against that thing!?"

Kakashi let out huge sigh of relief and sat down, completely relaxed. Erza looked at him with bug eyes. "Kakashi!? What are you doing? We need to help Natsu!" She shouted. Murmurs of approval could be heard by the surrounding crowd of Fairy Tail mages.

Kakashi waved her off. "Relax, Erza. He'll be fine." He replied in a lax tone.

This time Aki piped up. "HOW CAN YOU EVEN SAY THAT?! EVEN AS AWESOME AS NATSU IS, HE CAN'T STOP THAT THING!" She yelled.

Kakashi shook his head. "Trust me... Natsu will be fine. So will the guild hall. Just watch." He told them in a dead serious tone.

The wizards of Fairy Tail remained silent, but listened to him none the less.

WITH NATSU, MAVIS, AND LUCY, SAME TIME

Mavis and Lucy sweat dropped at Natsu's stupid statement. A cannon barrel pointed at them shows up on their doorstep and he comments on the price of the thing!?

"NATSU! THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT KIND OF COMMENT!" Lucy screeched at him.

Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "Ah... sorry... it just kinda slipped out..."

Lucy was already in panic mode. "Mavis! Can't you cast fairy sphere or whatever that spell was called?! The one that can block anything?!" She yelled at Mavis.

Mavis grit her teeth in frustration. "I would, but there aren't enough Fairy Tail mages around here for me to cast it! It works of the bonds of our members remember? Not magic!"

Lucy fell to her knees in hopelessness. "B-but... what can we even do then?..." She stuttered out, shaking with fear.

Mavis huddled into a ball, facing away from the castle that faced them. Natsu saw her shoulders start shaking and heard the gentle sounds of her crying. And despite only knowing her for a day or two, for some reason the sight of her so distressed just... tore him apart. He felt almost as if someone as cheerful and happy as her shouldn't be crying, or sad for that matter.

She shut her eyes tight as she remembered all the times she spent with the old Fairy Tail of her time and the new Fairy Tail of now, both at the same building, which she had helped construct with her own two hands. She didn't want it to be destroyed. Not now, not ever. And especially not by some low-life wizard only fueled by jealousy. The building almost represented her dream of having a fun, family-like guild. She spent too much time on it to simply let it be annihilated. _But what can I do?_ She thought in hopelessness. _None of my spells would even be remotely strong enough to block the power of a Jupiter cannon... and there aren't enough people here to be able to cast Fairy Sphere. To think... all the powerful spells I've learned... and I still can't protec-_

"Wow... you're not even going to give me a chance?" Natsu spoke in a mock dejected voice.

Mavis turned her head around, sniffling all the while. She slowly stopped crying, gently wiping the tears from the corners of her own eyes. "No *sniffle* offense Natsu, *sniffle*, but even you can't stop a *sniffle* Jupiter cannon." She told him in a depressed voice.

Suddenly they heard an ominous and nasty voice ring out from the castle in front of them. "Prepare the magic focusing cannon Jupiter..." It said in a voice that just sounded slimy.

Natsu waved his finger back in forth at Mavis as if he were scolding a child. "Tsk tsk... I brought someone back from the dead and you think I can't handle something as simple as this?..." He said with a voice and expression to match his motions.

The voice from the castle spoke yet again. "KILL THEM!" It screamed in that same nasty tone. The cannon began to build up a ball of dark energy that inverted the colour of any space it occupied. Mavis could feel the sheer power of magic emanating from the dark cannonball.

But Natsu wasn't even looking. Instead, he leaned in close to Mavis' ear. "Watch me." He whispered. And with that simple statement said, he stood up, turned around, and walked to the edge of the water.

Mavis watched his retreating form with wide eyes. She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that Natsu would risk so much to save her and the guild. But he was, and it scared her. Could he do it? Do the impossible? She didn't even want to think about him getting gravely injured, or worse dying, but at the end of the day it was a possibility. But it really made her think about their strange relationship. _Over the two days we've known each other, have we really become so close that he would go so far to protect me and the guild I love so much? And have I grown so attached that him even getting injured would so greatly effect me?_

But there was no more time for thoughts. The cannonball the Jupiter cannon had been building up was looking more and more unstable. Just when it looked like it was about to burst, it shot forth a beam of the same dark energy that it was made of. The laser shot towards the guild at breakneck speeds, and therefor right at Natsu, who was standing directly in it's way.

Mavis watched Natsu. She really hoped that he had some sort of secret jutsu or magic that would be able to block the attack with ease. And from what he did next, it seemed like he did.

Mavis stared at Natsu who reached his hand up towards his face. At first, she wondered what the hell he was doing reaching for his face at a time like this, and then it hit her. _The headband... whatever he's hiding under there... he's about to reveal it!_

Time seemed to move at half speed as Natsu slowly pulled the handband higher and higher on his face. The hair that normally hung freely over his covered left eye got pushed up and back. And then just like that, the eye was revealed. Even though Mavis couldn't yet see it due to Natsu facing away from her, she felt an incredible pressure placed upon her, as if she were being oppressed by an invisible force.

A red aura erupted to life around Natsu's still figure. It swirled around him like a raging inferno, and the feeling of incredible power only got worse. Suddenly a spine began to emerge out of thin air directly behind him. It continued to grow and grow until it eventually materialized into the full upper body of a skeleton. The pale red bones shone magnificently and combined with the deeper red aura around it gave off quite the effect.

But it wasn't done. Almost as soon as the bones finished growing, strings of muscle and flesh began to grow out of the joints of the massive skeleton, coming together to make the being that was once only a skeleton into a make-shift human. The monster's glowing yellow eyes were incredibly unnerving, and it's fiendish grin didn't help in the slightest.

The humanoid Susano'o leaned forwards towards the incoming beam and placed its left arm out in front, perpendicular to the laser. A red shield shaped like a flame began to grow on the being's arm. It was blood red with swirl patterns littered across the surface, and as if it were a live flame, the edges curled and moved in a random order.

Mavis braced herself for a large explosion of some sort for when the beam would eventually meet with the red shield, but the shock wave never came. When the laser hit the shield, nothing happened. It simply dissipated into nothingness as soon as it made contact with the shield's surface. It was as if the attack were never there in the first place.

Jose stared at the red humanoid in silent fury. Somehow these pesky little fairies had blocked a direct attack from his Jupiter cannon! Nothing like that had ever been done before, and it infuriated him to no end. He slammed his fist down on the arm of his swivel chair with an anguished cry of "Damn you!". Turning on his loudspeakers, he began to speak. "I don't know how you managed to block one attack from the Jupiter cannon, but it won't happen again! Either give me Lucy Heartfilia or relish your last fifteen minutes of life while the Jupiter cannon recharges!" He screamed.

He then looked to his screen that showed an zoomed version of the coastline and Fairy Tail's guild hall. What he saw there didn't please him in the slightest, and honestly unnerved him a little.

What he saw was Natsu just standing there with his arms crossed, looking completely relaxed. The red humanoid from before had faded, leaving him standing there alone with his rinnegan revealed. And he was staring right at where Jose was sitting. He spoke two words.

"Try me."


	25. CH-25: War III

**Hey guys! I'm back from summer break, I had lot's of fun, and I hope all you did too! Anyways, here's the next chapter of the story. Sorry it's been so long, I just didn't have time to update until now. It's a little shorter than the recent chapters, but I hope to make the next one far longer.  
**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

Every single mage of Fairy Tail stood with their mouths wide open in surprise after witnessing Natsu's red coloured Susano'o. The incredible defensive power of the skeleton's strangely shaped shield put them in complete awe. It was no ordinary feat to be able to completely negate a jupiter cannon.

Their previous thoughts of Kakashi being superior to Natsu were completely disproved in front of their eyes. It was clear that Natsu could easily fight Kakashi on equal ground, and maybe even beat him. If only they knew, eh?

The only ones who knew what Natsu could actually do were Erza, Gray, Aki, Happy, Mavis, and former team member Lucy, but even they were surprised to see what seemed like an exact replica of Kakashi's jutsu, albeit coloured red instead of blue.

"Try me."

The group shuddered when they heard Natsu speak. Somehow his voice became enhanced, carrying over the surrounding area like a gust of wind. His tone was strange. It seemed like he was being somewhat playful with the statement, and yet, they could hear small hints of edge and seriousness to it.

Natsu turned back around from his strong statement and faced Mavis. She gasped. His eye was far more different than she expected. She anticipated it being somewhat similar to the crimson one is his right eye, perhaps with a different pattern or inverted colours. But what she saw blew her mind away.

The eye was completely covered in a deep purple. Littered across the eye were black rings, each one getting smaller until it became a black pupil in the middle of the eye. The innermost circle of the eye was a slightly darker shade than the rest. A black ring thicker than the rest circled around the pupil, and through it were two perpendicular black lines. The two lines went all the way to the edges of his eyes on all sides, making it look like some sort of cross hair in the middle of his eye.

She could feel the raw power it gave off. It was unlike anything she had ever felt. Usually when she felt and incredible magical power she could tell it was strong, but it wouldn't actually affect her physically. But for some strange reason, this did.

Natsu smirked at Mavis' flabbergasted expression. "Well come on then, that cannon is just going to fire again unless we get rid of it."

Mavis shook her head to re-focus and nodded. "Right! Let's go!" She stated cheerfully, jumping up to her feet. But as she saw what was coming out of the castle, she stopped.

Natsu frowned. "What's wrong?" He asked. Facing Mavis instead of the castle, he was unable to see what Mavis was seeing.

Mavis pointed behind him. "Look!" She exclaimed.

Natsu turned around, only to be greeted by the sight of several hundred ghostly looking figures. They wore purple coloured cloaks with the red phantom lord insignia on the back. The cloaks covered their smoke like bodies, and even formed their arms. The only visible feature of the ghosts that were visible beyond the cloaks were glowing, red eyes.

And they were flying straight towards the guild hall. Natsu raised an eyebrow at the strange creatures. "And just what the hell are those things?" Natsu asked her.

Mavis grimaced. "Shade magic. Probably from Jose, considering how many there are. They're essentially puppets, and have no real bodies or forms. They don't have any methods of attacking people except for flying directly through them, which drains their life force on contact. And even if you kill one, it'll just re-form a few seconds later."

Natsu's response was drowned out by the sound of thousands of thundering footsteps approaching the guild hall. He around turned while sliding his headband back down to see the rest of the guild running towards him. They were all waving and cheering, exclaiming things like "Nice job Natsu!" or "Your magic is so cool!"

Natsu grinned and flashed them a thumbs up. They all grouped up around him, cheering and congratulating him. After a couple seconds of chaos, Mavis coughed loudly and began to speak. "Yes, yes, while Natsu did just save the guild, we still need to make sure he doesn't need to again! We need to take out that Jupiter Cannon!" She encouraged the rest of the guild.

Kakashi looked at Natsu and noticed a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He raised and eyebrow at him. "I assume you already have a plan then?" He asked.

Everyone went silent. The sound of many people blinking in surprise could be heard. Natsu just looked back at him and nodded slowly, the smirk never leaving his face. Everyone looked at him expectantly. He was just standing there.

A moment later, they grew impatient. "WELL?!" They all shouted at him.

Natsu recoiled from the loud noise and his face contorted in mock pain. "Ok, ok, I'll do it."

Stepping forwards from the rest of the group, He brought his hands in front of his chest in preparation for handseals. Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram. With the final hand sign in place he vocalized his jutsu. " **RINNEGAN SUMMONING: ANIMAL! ASURA!** "

Slamming his palm onto the ground at his feet, strange black runes and markings began to pour out in a spiderweb like fashion from around his palm. Out of a poof of smoke, two distinct humanoid figures appeared. They wore long, black cloaks covered in red clouds, with long socks and sandles on their feet. On their heads were pitch black masks. They were completely plain, except for two emerald rings around the eye holes of one mask, and ruby around the other.

The man on the right had spiky, light red hair. The other one had long, blonde hair. Most of it was tied back in a pony tail, but a sizable portion fell over his left eye. They were both around the same height.

Lucy gasped. "How did you summon spirits without keys?"

Natsu scrunched his face up and scratched his head. "Errr... It's kinda hard to explain, if you know what I mean. And they aren't spirits, either."

Lucy gained a sudden look of realization as it dawned on her. "Ohhhh. Right." Natsu grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

A random guild member piped up from the crowd. "Hey, uh, Natsu? Not saying you can't handle the situation or anything, but, uh, how are two extra guys gonna help us fight that entire army?"

Natsu gave off smirk as he watched the imposing army grow near. He counted rougly five hundred of Jose's shades. Their red eyes glowed at him ominously, and their wavy like movements gave the weaker-willed members of Fairy Tail a chill down their spines. The air around them grew still and silent, only the rustling of the wizards getting ready to fight able to be heard.

One of the figures Natsu summoned without a word slipped off the top half of his robe, letting it fold at his waist and hang down. The group gasped at what they saw. The man's body was completely and utterly mechanical. Every part of his torso was made by and attached by plastic joints. The only thing that seemed to be different was the strange cylinder where his heart should have been. Purple tendrils that resembled roots grew out of the thing en masse, and it had a red painted kanji on the front.

But he didn't stop there. Suddenly a red scroll poofed into existence in the man's hand out of a cloud of smoke. A small hatch on the right side of the man's chest opened, revealing an empty void of blackness. He held the scroll out to the side and let it unravel, allowed everyone in the crowd to see the contents.

The pure length of the scroll surprised them. It reached almost five meters, and the entire thing was covered end to end in complex looking black markings.

They jumped back in surprise when rapid fire smoke clouds starting popping out of the markings covering the scroll. But through the small plumes of smoke, distinct figures could be seen coming out of the scroll, flying up into the air above them.

Before they even knew it, a large shadow was cast over the group. What caused the shadow was the one hundred red-clad figures now floating above them. Each had a blue energy string attached from their backs to the mechanical man in front of them. But these were no ordinary people. They looked... odd. Lines and joints in spots that shouldn't be there.

Then Erza realized. "Th-they're puppets!" She exclaimed, half in awe and half creeped out by the clattering of the puppets. The others had the idea that the things weren't human, but now seeing what they were brought it to a whole new level of creepiness.

Mavis gaped at the man controlling all the puppets. _To be able to control over a hundred puppets at the same time! What incredible power!_ She thought in shock.

Lucy watched in curiosity. _Hmm..._ She wondered. _It's kinda like my celestial spirit magic I suppose. I wonder what they can do?_

Gray and Aki fist bumped. "That's our buddy Natsu for ya!" Aki exclaimed cheerfully. "Yup! Always pullin through when we need it most!" Gray added on.

Kakashi watched the puppets fidget and shake. "Hmm..." He muttered to himself. "Didn't think I'd ever be reassured by seeing those things."

Suddenly the red haired man controlling the multitude of puppets called out in a grandeous voice that sounded roughly Aki and Gray's age. " **Secret Technique of the Red Sands: Performance of One Hundred Puppets!** " He shouted. Raising his arms at the puppets.

They moved like a tsunami of bloodied water, their clattering pieces clacking back and forth creating an ominous noise that freaked out most who hear it. When the front lines reached front lines, they didn't slow down in the slightest. The strange weapons that the puppets were carrying cut through the opposing purple forces like a hot knife through butter. Their emotionless stare unnerved even Jose.

The shades couldn't even fight back, all for one reason; the puppets weren't alive. They were dead. They had no soul, nothing to leech off of, so when the shades flew through the red cloaked figures, they achieved absolutely nothing.

Mavis watched in wonder as the puppets made short work of Jose's shade magic. They wielded all sorts of different weapons; scythes, claws, axes, swords, and even more strange things like chains. But she couldn't say it wasn't effective, no, air being filled with smoke from the rapid dispelling and reforming of the shades were proof of that. It was like watching an army trained together for hundreds of years.

An army, all controlled by one. The red haired man standing at the forefront of the cliff. He didn't even look like he was doing anything, really. He just stood there with his top half bare and the hundred blue energy strings flowing out of his chest. But Natsu had summoned the guy, right? So was he controlling the puppets himself? Or was Natsu controlling him, and therefor controlling the puppets by proxy.

"Hey! What are they doing?!" Gray suddenly shouted, pointing in the air where the battle was taking place.

Mavis looked up. Gray was right, they were doing something, grouping, to be more exact. Almost all the shades had clumped together like a mass of mosquitoes. Suddenly, they all rushed the puppet master, flying towards him like a swarm of killer bees.

Over half of them were cut down mid flight by the army of puppets, but the surprise factor of their sudden rush gave them enough time to get past the majority of the puppets. Aki pointed at them and shouted at the puppet master. "HEY RED HAIRED DUDE! RUN! THEY'RE GOING FOR YOU!" She warned.

The 'red haired dude' turned to her and growled through his mask. "My name is Sasori, you little brat." He said in a low voice.

But before Aki could speak again, the shades reached their intended destination: Sasori. They bombarded him like a river of darkness, completely enveloping him. He was hit by over a hundred of them, enough to kill a man ten times over. She grit her teeth. "Damnit..." She muttered.

"AHAHHAHAAAHHAAAHA!" A manical laughter was heard, breaking the silence of shock at the puppet master, now known as Sasori, being killed so easily.

Looking to where the laughter was coming from, Mavis gasped. As the shades dissipated from the area, Sasori could be seen, standing there, laughing with an evil smirk plastered across his face. "But... how?" Mavis muttered. She looked to Natsu, to see if he was also surprised by this turn of events, but as she suspected, he remained calm as ever.

Aki stared, wide eyed. "What the..." She slowly trailed off. Everyone else, except Natsu and Kakashi of course, had very similar reactions.

As the laughter slowly came to an end, Sasori spoke in a low growl. "Your strange magic tricks won't work on me..." He said slowly, pausing for a moment. As he did, two sets of helicopter blades came out of two compartments on his back. The blades unfurled and began to rotate at speeds fast enough to lift him off the ground, leaving him hovering mid-air. "YOU CAN'T LEECH MY SOUL, I HAVE NO SOUL TO BURN!" He shouted with a predatory glare and evil grin, immediately shooting off in the air to join the rest of his puppets in combat.

Gray ran forwards. "Come on guys!" He shouted, waving at the members of Fairy Tail. "We can't just let Natsu and his buddies do all the work, let's show em what we're made of!" He shouted at them, inspiring them greatly.

Aki grinned and ran after him. "Hell yeah!" She cheered in agreement. Slowly but surely, the rest of Fairy Tail began to chase after the two dragon slayers, shouting words of encouragement and motivation to their fellow mages. Gray created a mighty bridge made of ice over the water, and the group followed, eager to join the fray, this time on Phantom Lord's front door.

Only Natsu, Mavis, Kakashi, and Erza remained. Lucy had bolted off to follow the main group attacking Phantom, and Happy had of course followed Aki. Mavis had finally recovered from her little panic attack, and was floating right next to Natsu, who was doing the exact same thing. The masked man with the robe and long blonde hair also stood with them with his arms crossed.

"Alright, it's up to us five to take out that cannon before it can fire again." Erza announced. "Anyone got any ideas?"

The masked man tilted his head up with pride. "Hn. With my art, that cannon'll be gone in seconds." He boasted.

Mavis and Erza raised an eyebrow at the man, while Natsu and Kakashi tried their best to suppress laughter. "Oh? And you are?" Mavis huffed.

The man gave a mock bow. "Deidara, the best artist this world has ever seen." He replied.

Mavis sweat dropped. "Now tell me how the hell artistic talent is going to destroy a jupiter cannon." She said, staring at him for an answer. But before he could respond, she began speaking again. "Actually, scratch that. Natsu, you know what your own summons can do right?" She asked, looking at him. He nodded. "So how is this artist guy going to help us with THAT thing?" She questioned him.

He shrugged and nodded to Deidara. "I think this one is better left for him to explain." He answered.

With that said, Deidara reached into his robe with his hands, opening two pouches on his sides and sticking his hands inside. Mavis groaned and facepalmed. "Oh boy, what's he doing now?"

A couple seconds later, Deidara reached his hands forwards, revealing what he had been doing. "EWWW!" Mavis squealed as she saw his palms. They were mouths. One on each palm, complete with a tongue and everything. But he ignored her cry and continued.

Out of the two mouths came two streams of clay, which began to clump into a ball on the ground on front of him. The ball continued to change it's shape and size, until eventually it was a massive clay dragon, easily twenty feet tall and fourty across.

The dragon promptly rose up, it's powerful wings beating air down and lifting it airborne. It began flying towards the barrel of the cannon. Deidara formed one hand into a half ram seal. "Why you ask? How you ask?" Deidara questioned. The dragon grew closer.

"Well I'll tell you why." He continued. The dragon flew inside the barrel of the cannon.

"BECAUSE ART IS AN EXPLOSION! **KATSU!** "

 **As a side note, I know that the six paths of pain thingy doesn't work like how I portrayed it, but I allowed the akatsuki members to keep their personalities since I thought it would be fun to write and kinda interesting to see how they would interact with Earthland.**


	26. CH-26: War IV

**Sorry 'bout the short chapter. Not much time to write recently.**

It took several moments for anyone in the surrounding area to recover from the obnoxious ringing in their ears. The explosion caused by the dragon of clay blew the cannon to pieces. Literally. All that was left of the once massive gun was a gaping hole in the middle of Phantom Lord's guild hall.

The explosion was so bright and loud that people momentarily forgot about the battle of puppets raging on directly above their heads. Even Natsu was affected, having never actually seen Deidara in battle. Of course, Kakashi was fine for the opposite reason.

"Wow!" Mavis gasped, throwing her hands in the air. "That was amazing!" She exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.

Natsu rubbed his eyes. "Yeah..." He agreed, still slightly groggy.

With no further words, Deidara began weaving hand seals. Just as Natsu had done earlier, he put his palm on the ground. " **Summoning Jutsu!** " He yelled.

Black markings seemed to spill out from under his palm and formed a spider web around his hand. A plume of smoke appeared. From the smoke came a massive, extremely weird looking bird. And this was no understatement.

It had a wingspan of over fifteen meters, and a full length of about the same. It's feathers were a muddy green, and looked as sharp as one of Erza's blades. It's beak looked akin to a jagged drill, with only a thin line giving away the fact that it had a mouth. It's eyes were two massive orbs of purple, with rings of black covering them both. Three feet protruded from the bottom of the bird, each looking as menacing as the last. But perhaps the strangest part were the two massive black rods pierced through the creatures neck and back. It raised it's head to the sky and let out a fearsome shriek from it's maw.

Mavis stared at the strange crow's eyes. She could tell they were the same as the one Natsu held, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel that they were different somehow. For one, there just wasn't that oppressing feel radiated by them, which was painfully apparent when she was exposed to Natsu's, and second, but more obvious, there was no crosshair marking in either of the bird's eyes.

Erza stared at it in wonder. "Amazing... I've never even seen a wyvern that big!" She said.

Deidara hopped on the bird's back, sitting on one of the black rods pierced through it's back. The giant crow promptly took off, taking to the skies right above the enemy guild hall. From there, the bird began to circle around the castle-like building, allowing Deidara to drop bombs at will.

Kakashi nudged Erza with his elbow. She turned to him with a confused expression. "C'mon!" He began, "Let's go help out the others." Erza smiled and nodded, requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armour to fly over the water. Kakashi just ran over the open ocean like it was solid ground.

Natsu looked at Mavis and was about to say something when suddenly sand flew out of his gourd and wrapped itself around a black, metal pole, stopping it mere inches from the back of his head. Mavis gasped and pointed at something behind him. "Natsu! Watch out!" She warned him.

Natsu turned around only to see one Black Steel Gajeel falling towards him face first, one arm transformed into a metal rod and the other held back, ready to strike once in range. He had a malicious grin from ear to ear, which was accentuated by the sun shining off the iron studs in his face. "Gihihihihi!" He laughed as he got ever closer.

Natsu raised an arm towards him. Sand raced out of the gourd and wrapped itself around his other arm, stopping his progress completely.

Gajeel looked down at his two immobilized arms and only a second later sprung into action. He turned his left arm back from it's iron state, releasing it from Natsu's grasp. To release the other arm he did a complete backflip, kicking the sand away with his foot as it went by.

He landed on the ground in a standing position with a dull thud. Gone was the grin from before, replacing it was a more serious expression. For several moments, Gajeel and Natsu just stared at each other, only seperated by roughly ten meters of open ground. But the silence was interrupted by Mavis.

"Hey! You were the one who destroyed the guild, weren't you!" Mavis shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Gajeel snickered. "Hell yeah that was me." He confirmed. "It was lots'a fun too." He added on.

Mavis folded her arms and huffed, turning her head away. "Well, I'll have you know I worked very hard to build that thing and I'm not very pleased that you littered it with these unfashionable iron sticks." She informed him.

Gajeel sweatdropped. "Eh... ok?..." He replied, uncertain of how he should respond. A second later he thought of something. "How the hell were you around whe this place was built? Fairy Tail is just as old as Phantom!" He wondered aloud.

Mavis took a step back and grinned sheepishly, waving her hands in front of her. "Uhhh... I did... uhh... I'm actually... ermm..." She stuttered. Eventually she decided it wasn't worth the effort. "Y'know what? It's none of your business!"

Natsu peered at Gajeel cautiously. "Who are you, anyway?" He asked.

Gajeel pounded his chest with one fist, grinning proudly. "Black Steel Gajeel, the iron dragon slayer of Phantom Lord. And you are?"

"Natsu." He said simply, unsealing his scythe and readying it in front of him. Gajeel blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the weapon, but got over it quickly and charged. He realized that he wouldn't be able to attack, for fear of getting sliced by the blades of Natsu's weapon, so he changed both his arms into iron pillars to avoid this issue.

He began raining heavy blows down upon Natsu, attempting to get through Natsu's guard. He didn't even seem to be expelling any effort, instead holding a cocky grin. Natsu on the other hand looked hard pressed by the relentless assault.

Natsu grit his teeth. _Damnit._ He thought, as another iron beam striking his weapon jarred his arms. _His strikes are too heavy, my scythe can't withstand this pounding!_ He realized. But it was too late. With one final swing, Gajeel knocked the scythe from Natsu's weakened grip. It went spinning away and landed on the ground with a clatter.

Gajeel didn't let up on the attack. Seeing what he thought was a prime opportunity to get through Natsu's defense, he swung with a devastating right hook that would've taken out any lesser mage.

But the blow never connected. Before Gajeel's metal arm could reach it's intended target, Natsu's face, it was stopped by a thick stream of sand. Natsu quickly counter-attacked, kicking at Gajeel's chest and sending him back.

Gajeel took the kick in stride, going straight into a back flip and landing on his feet. He took a quick moment to analyze what had just happened. _It seems that sand is enough to block any blunt attack I throw at it, meaning I have no chance of hitting him unless I can be fast enough that he can't use his sand in time, or I just do something that can go right through it._ Gajeel took a deep breath and decided to go with option A first.

Once again, he charged at Natsu. Off on the sidelines, Mavis watched with a grim expression. _Damnit!_ She thought angrily. _I can't help Natsu at all! Any spell I use would hit them both, and I have almost no physical strength, so that's out of the question..._ All she could do was watch and believe in Natsu to beat Black Steel Gajeel. "Mrgrgr..." She growled under her breath.

Natsu had to give Gajeel credit, he was fast. Faster than most jounin probably would be. But not fast enough. Gajeel launched one punch with his right arm, aiming for the left side of Natsu's torso. Once again, he was stopped by an ever flowing stream of sand that had flown out of the container on Natsu's back.

Gajeel watched Natsu's eyes. They were trained on his outstretched fist. _Perfect._ He thought. Next, he struck with his left arm, using the same maneuver as before, this time aiming at the right side of Natsu's torso. Yet again, his attack was stopped by floating sand, but more importantly, Gajeel noticed Natsu's eyes shift to the arm that just attacked.

Gajeel grinned. _Part two of the plan, completed._ He said inwardly. bending down into a squat, he swung out with his foot in a low sweep, aiming for Natsu's feet and ankles. _Checkmate._ He mused, just waiting for the satisfaction of landing a hit.

But the hit never came. To his shock, sand once again came to Natsu's aid, blocking his attack. Natsu wasn't even looking. Before he could even make sense of what had just happened, Natsu drew back his fist, coating it in bright orange fire. He punched Gajeel at point blank with a cry of " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** "

Gajeel rolled backwards on the ground several meters. As he got back to his feet, he could only stare at the person who he know knew was the second fire dragon slayer of Fairy Tail. _God,_ he thought to himself. _Am I the only dragon slayer who isn't a part of Fairy Tail?_ He wondered.

Natsu rushed forth, orange coloured flames covering each hand. Gajeel turned his hands to iron rods and rushed forward to meet him. Their fists met knuckle to knuckle directly in between them, causing a miniature explosion of fire around them.

As they continued trading blows, it became clear who was the better martial artist. Natsu was landing almost double the hits Gajeel was, and even though Gajeel was hitting harder, it didn't matter. Natsu just had more training and real martial art experience, where as Gajeel just had some sort of street brawl style.

Natsu saw an opening. Gajeel's right arm coming in for a wide hook that was just a _little_ slower than the rest. Natsu took full advantage. Using his own right arm, he slammed Gajeel's incoming blow in the opposite direction, throwing him off balance. With no time for Gajeel to react, he turned around and donkey kicked Gajeel high into the air.

Holding his hand up, he lashed out with his sand. It flew through the sky towards the airborne Gajeel, who had no means to avoid it. Gajeel grit his teeth. _Damnit!_ He thought in anger. Taking a deep breath, he put his hands in front of his mouth. " **Iron Dragon's Roar!** " He yelled, releasing a devastating tornado of metal shrapnel.

The roar completely overwhelmed the sand coming towards him, cutting right through it and racing towards Natsu at high speeds. Natsu knew the iron dragon slayer would have a roar attack, he just didn't expect it to be so powerful. With only seconds left to spare, he opened his right eye wide and a single sharingan spun to life.

But Gajeel didn't notice. Falling to the ground, he wiped the corners of his mouth and watched the aftermath of his roar attack play out. _Did I get him?..._ He wondered.

As the debris and dust faded away, the answer became obvious."What the hell?!" Gajeel shouted. "I'm certain that attack hit straight on!" Natsu stepped forwards, completely unharmed from Gajeel's roar. There wasn't a scratch on him.

Not hearing an answer, Gajeel growled and ran at Natsu. Natsu stood still, but looked ready none the less. Mavis still watched from the sidelines, slightly worried. _Damnit Natsu... I don't know how the hell you avoided that earlier roar... but you'd better have something planned now._ She thought.

But then the tactician side of her brain kicked in, giving her a small inkling of an idea. _Maybe?... but there's no way that would work, right?..._

FLASHBACK

 _"What's Team Ghost? I thought this was Team Seven?"_

 _Natsu came back into visibility and nodded. "Yeah, it is Team Seven, but Kakashi and I used to be part of a two man team before we left on our decade quest. It was called Team Ghost." He explained._

 _Mavis tilted her head and brought a finger to her chin. "Why the name 'Team Ghost'?"_

 _Natsu smirked and bent down again. "Because of this." He said. He then proceeded to put his hand into the ground, phasing through it as if it weren't even there._

FLASHBACK END

Mavis's eyes widened at the possibility. _Is it possible that he can phase through living people and magic?_ She wondered in disbelief. Her theory was confirmed shortly when Gajeel got in range of Natsu to throw a punch.

Natsu turned around, with his back now facing the incoming Gajeel. And as Gajeel's fist approached the base of his neck... it went right through him. His body followed soon after, phasing through Natsu like he was nothing more than a projection. Gajeel blinked in surprise. "What the-" He muttered in shock, turning his head.

What he say was Natsu's fist, encased in clear glass, heading straight for his face. There wasn't time to do anything. " **Glass Style: Sacred Palm!** " Natsu yelled, following through with his attack and sending Gajeel spinning away off the cliff and into the ocean.

Natsu stood up straight and dispelled the glass around his hand. He turned around and saw Mavis standing in front of him with his scythe in hand. "Couldn't you of helped out just a little?" He asked, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

Mavis dropped his weapon at his feet and curled into a little ball, facing away from him. "I would've, but all my spells would've hit you at the same t-time!" She exclaimed.

Natsu noticed her shoulder start to shake, and heard small whimpers coming from her small form on the ground. He sweat dropped. "Hey c'mon, I was only joking!" He said, patting her shoulder. But Mavis either didn't hear him or didn't care, because she maintained her position on the ground.

Natsu near face faulted at her blatant ignoring of him. "Don't cry Mavis! It was only a joke!" He continued.

Mavis sniffled. "I-I'm not c-crying! I'm n-not crying a-at all!" She proclaimed indignantly.

Natsu sighed, completely exasperated.

"Is that so?"


	27. CH-27: War V

Natsu and Mavis' victory was short lived, for only seconds after Natsu successfully dispatched Black Steel Gajeel, the gigantic building known as Phantom Lord's guild hall began to move. Again. The four outer towers fell away, the main building split into three and folded backwards. It was truly quite the spectacle to behold. Maybe not for the people inside, getting shook around, but for Natsu and Mavis it was quite something. At the end of the strange transformation, the guild took on the shape of a massive humanoid robot.

It's head was shaped like the helmet of a knight of old, and glowing red eyes pierced through the darkness of the visor. The main chassis of the creature was formed by what was the main part of the building, and the many windows gave the robot's chest a kind of car grill type look. What were the outer towers became the arms and legs, and from within came two spheres with three cylinders each that became the hands.

The arms began to move. From their resting position, they began to shift so that both hands were side by side at the robot's head level. From there, one hand started moving in a clockwise direction, while the other moved in a counter-clockwise direction. They would meet again at the bottom of the presumable circle.

But that wasn't what shocked them the most. It was the fact that the two hands were leaving behind a trail of magical runes and lines. The construction of a magical circle. Mavis gasped. "What kind of spell would a gigantic robot be able to cast?!" She exclaimed.

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know, Mavis. But I don't think it's going to be of assistance to us." He commented.

Mavis deadpanned. "Wow. Who would of suspected." She replied in a deadpan.

Suddenly, they heard a sharp gasp from behind them. "No way... that's the Abyss Break spell!"

Natsu and Mavis turned. They saw Mirajane standing behind them with one hand over her mouth and a worried expression on her face. "So what does it do?" Natsu and Mavis asked simultaneously.

Mirajane sweat dropped. _You'd think that people as powerful as them would know these things..._ She mused. "It's a powerful spell that unleashes a devastating blast, completely obliterating anything it's pointed at!" Mirajane explained. "It utilizes fire, water, earth, and wind to function, combining them all to create the effect."

Mavis went over what she just learned. _Fire, water, earth, and wind... what does that remind me of..._ She began to rack her brain thinking of what she had been on to. Somehow, Natsu said it without her revealing a thing. "The Elemental Four is what you're thinking of." He said.

Mavis looked shocked. "What?! How'd you do that?" She questioned him.

Natsu smirked. "Magic, I suppose. No?" He answered. A few seconds of silence later he spoke again. "I honestly have no idea." He said, completely deadpan.

Mavis sighed. "Whatever, just go tell Kakashi. Him and the rest should be able to take care of it." She told him.

Natsu nodded. "Right." He responded, and warped away in a spiralling circle of space. Things were silent between the two remaining mages for only a few moments.

"So... are you two dating yet?" Mirajane asked with a cheeky smile.

Mavis smiled and waved her off. "Oh, don't be silly. We're just friends." She replied, giggling.

Mirajane raised an eyebrow in skepticism. She sighed. "If you say so."

 **WITH KAKASHI**

Inside the main guild hall of Phantom Lord, things were going well for Kakashi and the rest of Fairy Tail. Much like what had happened at the fight in Oak Town, Fairy Tail's wizards were far more powerful than those of Phantom Lord, and were able to overcome them quickly without Gajeel there.

Kakashi was just getting ready to deal with three more Phantom Lord mages when Natsu suddenly appeared behind them and took them all out with one swipe of his reaper. Natsu nodded at him as a greeting. Kakashi nodded back at him. "What's up?" He asked.

"Whatever the hell kind of robot thing this is started writing a magical circle for some kind of spell called Abyss Break. Long story short, unless you defeat all four of the elemental four before the spell gets casted, all of Magnolia is gonna look like Konoha after Pain's assault." Natsu explained as fast as he could. He knew about Pain from Hagoromo and other books he's read.

Kakashi nodded. "Right. I'll get to it, but you'd better explain this to me after." He responded.

Natsu waved him off as he phased into the ground. "Yeah, yeah, I will."

Kakashi rejoined the other members of Fairy Tail in their assault on Phantom Lord. Led by Erza, Aki, and Gray, they were cutting a path straight through the enemy mages with little to no effort. They were searching for the command center, where Erza knew they would find Jose.

Erza was not quite sure, yet fairly confident in their ability to take on Jose if it came down to it. She figured none of them would be able to take Jose on in a one versus one scenario, except for Kakashi. So by that logic, if Kakashi fought Jose with the might of his guild behind him, it would be an easier victory.

She also wanted to test the power of the blade that Natsu gave her all those years ago. It had proven a valuable asset to her in her various jobs over the years, and was her most powerful blade. But never had she been able to test it against the power of one whose magic was at the level of a wizard saint.

She named it the Nejireta Shinchu, or Twisted Brass. Erza knew it was not the most flattering of names. Not the kind of name that would make enemies fear it, yet she found it the most fitting. Besides, she would give people a reason to fear the name Nejireta Shinchu. When she paired it with the dragonscale coat that Natsu also gave her, the pair became her favourite and most powerful set to use. Not only was the coat her two favourite colours, royal blue and scarlet red, the protection value the material gave it was unmatched. It was like wearing the strongest chain mail on the planet.

Kakashi grabbed their attention. "Guys! Listen up!" He shouted, stepping in front of the rampaging group of mages. They stopped.

"What is it?" Erza responded. She switched back to her Heart Kruez armour and waited.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I've received word from Natsu. Apparently that rumbling we felt earlier was actually this entire guild hall morphing into something that can cast a spell on a gigantic scale." He explained.

The Fairy Tail mages responded with a collective. "WHAT?!"

Aki and Gray grimaced. "So what's the catch then?" Gray said. "Yeah, what kinda spell is this thing going to cast?" Aki added.

"Some sort of spell called Abyss Break." Kakashi responded. "I don't know what it does, but Natsu said it's really bad." Kakashi envisioned the scene of Konoha as an enormous pile of rubble. He shuddered.

Erza's eyes widened. "WHAT!? ABYSS BREAK?! THAT WOULD DESTROY ALL OF MAGNOLIA!" She exclaimed.

Aki grit her teeth. "Right. So how do we stop this thing?" She inquired.

Kakashi smirked. "Lucky for us, Natsu figured that out too. According to him, and I'm assuming Mavis, if we defeat all four members of the Elemental Four, it should deactivate the spell." He explained.

Gray grinned and slammed one fist into his open palm. "Awesome. So all we gotta do is defeat some Phantom Lord freaks?" He asked. Kakashi nodded. Gray continued. "Dibs on takin' out that weird water mage. My ice magic will work perfectly against it." He explained.

Aki set her hands on her hips. "I'll go too then." Aki said. "Gray and I are the best team!" She exclaimed with a smile. She looked beside her at Happy. "Happy too of course." She added on.

Gray smiled and nodded. "Then let's get going! We haven't got a second to spare!" He said and began running off. Aki quickly followed behind him, Happy not too far behind.

Erza raised her hand. "I'll take care of Totomaru of the flame element. Nejireta Shinchu's fire should be able to overcome his. If not, I still have my fire empress armour." She explained.

Kakashi shrugged. "Go for it. I can deal with Aria then I guess." He declared. "That just leaves Sol then. Anyone wanna have a go at him?" Kakashi asked the group.

Elfman raised his fist. "I will fight him! I shall test my manliness against his! MAN!" Elfman roared.

Kakashi sweat dropped. "Right... you do that, then..." He responded. He looked back at the Lucy, Cana, and the rest. "You guys just keep holding off the common rabble. Even though they outnumber you, your superior strength will come out on top." He told them.

In response, the large group of Fairy Tail mages roared with approval and raised their fists in a cheer.

"We can do it!" Yelled Cana. Lucy shouted, "Yeah!" in agreement.

"Let's show these Phantom punks just who they're dealing with!" Exclaimed Macao. Wakaba smirked. "You bet."

Kakashi grinned at the scene before discretely slipping away into the floor. Erza requipped into her dragonscale armour and bolted off. Elfman ran in the opposite direction.

Suddenly, a portion of the wall gave way in a plume of smoke, revealing rows and rows of Phantom Lord mages, grinning and leering at the group of Fairy Tail mages. Cana stepped forward, cards in hand. "LET'S GET 'EM!" She shouted as loud as she could.

They charged.

WITH AKI, GRAY, AND HAPPY

The trio found their desired opponent upon the roof of the great being. Strangely, despite it being nice weather just moments before, clouds quickly surrounded them, and soon enough droplets of water began to fall from the sky. Gray held out his hand and watched them splash lightly against his open palm.

"Weird. It's raining now." Gray said, looking up at the sky with a confused expression.

"Yeah," Aki agreed, tapping her black sneakers against the pooling water on the tiles of the roof. "It was sunny just a second ago... I wonder what happened?" She questioned.

"That would be because of Juvia, the rain woman." A new voice announced from across the rampart.

The voice came from a blue haired girl, wearing a black, Russian styled coat with a fur collar and cuffs. On her feet were tall, leather boots that went up past her knees, and upon her head was a hat that matched the style and colour scheme of the coat. Her long, azure coloured hair fell past her shoulders and had a wavy, non-stylized look. Her face was unemotional, and her eyes held a pink umbrella, stylized with hearts of a darker shade of pink.

"Juvia of the deep sea is the rain woman, what type of woman are you, pray tell?" She asked Aki in a cryptic manner.

Aki blanched and scratched her head. "Uhh... what?..." She replied in utter confusion.

Happy gave a cheery smile and waved. "Aye! Aki is confused again!" He exclaimed joyously.

Aki grew a tick mark and waved her fist at him. "EH! WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" She shouted at him. Juvia and Gray sweat dropped at their strange antics.

Gray took on a serious look, which was seriously hampered by his taking off of his shirt at the same time. Juvia blushed. _Just what the hell is he doing?_ She wondered.

"Aki and I are going to take you down! You're not gonna win this war, you Phantom Lord creep!" Gray proudly stated. Aki readied herself and nodded. "That's right!" She agreed.

Juvia sighed and extended her hand. "It matters not... Juvia will defeat you and complete her mission." She declared. " **Water Lock!** "

The pools of water around their feet extended up from the ground and began to form a ball around the two dragon slayers. After a few seconds of squirming around, they both realized that the ball would move with them as to keep them ensnared in it's grasp.

Gray closed his eyes and focused, extending both his arms to either side of his body. The water around him quickly froze completely and fell to the ground, shattering and leaving Gray perfectly fine. He turned to the side, where he saw Aki literally on fire. The ball of crimson fire in the middle of the aqueous sphere quickly evapourated the water, and left Aki standing in a gigantic cloud of steam. Of course, since she was a dragon slayer the high temperatures didn't affect her in the slightest.

Gray grinned. "You're fighting a losing battle, you Phantom Lord bastard, both of our magics counter yours!" He shouted triumphantly. Aki held up a flaming fist and smirked to show her agreement.

Juvia scowled and once again raised her hand towards them. " **Water Slicer!** " She yelled. The rain drops from the sky began to form themselves into thin crescent shaped blades of water. Said blades promptly began flying at the Fairy Tail mages at high speeds.

Gray and Aki danced from side to side, dodging the blades and evapourating or freezing the ones that they couldn't. One of the thin lines of water that Aki dodged cut straight through solid steel, which the pair couldn't help but stare at in amazement.

Juvia smirked. "High pressured blades of water, able to cut through even steel." She boasted.

Aki grinned and charged, both hands smothered in crimson red fire. "Hmph! Doesn't matter if they never touch me!" She exclaimed while running towards Juvia. Gray followed directly behind her. He had an idea of what Aki was planning to do. After all, they had done it countless times in the past.

Juvia snarled at her and raised her dainty little pink umbrella and pointed it at her. " **Tsunami!** " She roared with a furious expression on her face.

All the water from the ground and in the air came together behind the water mage to form one gigantic wave, truly befitting of the title "Tsunami". It was over twenty five feet tall and spanned the entire roof area.

But much to Juvia's shock, Aki was smirking and she maintained her running pace. "Gray." She said.

Suddenly, Gray leapt up from behind her, arms spread apart. " **Ice Dragon's Cold Wave!** " He called out, and immediately after an invisible wave of freezing air released from his body. It traveled forwards faster than the wave, and reached it before it could hit Aki.

The wave completely froze over. Solid. It just became a block of ice on the spot. But Gray wasn't done. Pointing his palm to where Aki was headed, a small portion of the frozen wave shattered to leave room for Aki to run through, which she took full advantage of.

Juvia stared at it, shocked. "What!? That's impossible!" She exclaimed.

Gray smirked. "Don't underestimate us dragonslayers. We have more control over our elements than any normal mage could." He explained.

Aki roared and unleashed a fiery punch at Juvia. " **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** " The blow went straight through her, leaving Aki with half her body inside Juvia's. She stared at the blue haired woman, shocked. "What the hell?!" She exclaimed. It felt like she was in water.

Juvia smirked and turned to her. "Juvia's entire body is made of water. Nothing you do can even touch me." She boasted.

Aki returned the smirk, much to Juvia's confusion. "What's so funny you little Fairy Tail weakling?!" She snarled at Aki.

Aki lit her body aflame. "Oh, nothing. It's just that since your body is made of water, it'll also have the basic chemical properties of water!" She said cheerfully.

Juvia began to sweat. She began to feel... lighter, almost. Like she was more fragile, and could be blown away by a small gust of wind. She grit her teeth. "What the hell does that mean?" She growled.

Aki smirked yet again. "It means you can be boiled into steam. Heh." She finished with a small snort of laughter.

Juvia's eyes widened in horror. _No!_ She thought as she looked down. True enough, her body was beginning to become see through and wavy, like a projection almost. _How intense must those flames be for her to do this so quickly?!_ And then it began to rise. She flapped her arms around desperately, but it didn't do anything. She just kept floating up, up and away. "AHHHHHH! HELPPPPPP!" She wailed.

Aki turned and looked at Gray. "Your turn." She told him. Gray nodded and placed both his palms on the ground. " **Ice Dragon's Rising Predator!** " He shouted.

The ground beneath Juvia's floating body began to shake. She stared below her in disbelief at what was going on. A huge shark head composed of ice was rising out of the ground, as if a real shark was jumping out of the ocean. It had razor sharp fangs made completely of ice, and it's wide maw was wide open. All she could do was stare as the beast came closer to chomping down on her. _Dragon slayers..._ She mused. _They're insane..._

The shark closed it's jaws around her with a resounding * _SNAP!*_. And as soon as it did, it just stopped. Juvia was completely frozen within the maw of this gigantic ice shark, like an incredibly intricate frozen sculpture atop the roof of Phantom Lord's guild hall.

Aki let out a sigh and sat down, cross legged. Gray walked over and sat beside her in the same pose. They both looked at the shark. "No matter how many times I see that spell, it's just as cool as the first time." She said with a grin, and looked at him.

Gray blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Haha yeah... thanks."

WITH ERZA

Erza encountered her desired enemy in the destroyed remnants of the Jupiter Cannon. He was just sitting there, looking over the ocean peacefully. He looked calm as ever. His dual coloured hair was waving softly from the breeze that was pouring through the open chunk of wall where the Jupiter Cannon. His sword layed beside him.

Erza walked behind him and declared her presence. "Totomaru of the Great Flame, I, Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail am here to defeat you." She said clearly.

The man sighed, and casually got up. He brushed off his pants and coat, and picked up his sword. He stared at her with a blank expression. "I see. May I ask, who was it that destroyed the cannon with some sort of explosive dragon?" He asked.

Erza smiled. "That was-" An explosion shook the building. "The same guy who's doing that." She said, pointing at the ceiling. "An explosives expert that one of our members managed to summon." She explained. She frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Totomaru sighed. "After witnessing that first hand-" He remembered with a shudder the white clay dragon flying straight down the barrel of the Jupiter Cannon towards him. If not for his ability to control fire, he would've been burnt to a crisp. "I know we have no chance of victory, unless we manage to cast Abyss Break." He admitted.

He drew his sword and pointed it at her. He lit his other hand aflame, and stared her in the eyes. "Which is why I must defeat you here, for the sake of Phantom Lord!" He declared proudly.

Erza raised her sword in turn, and pointed it at him. "I respect your loyalty to your guild, but unfortunately I have to win this fight, for the sake of Fairy Tail!" Erza retorted.

The two sword users charged each other. They met in the middle ground with the distinct sound of metal clashing. For many seconds after, all that could be seen was Totomaru's signature katana clashing with Erza's signature greatsword. The pure swordsmanship displayed by the two of them was truly remarkable. A battle between two masters of the blade.

They danced around each other, jumping and dodging strikes that they couldn't block or parry. Sparks flew every which way. Before long, both mages were panting from exhaustion. Neither had landed a strike on the other.

But that fact was quickly rectified when Erza managed to catch the tip of Totomaru's sword in one of the gaps of Nejireta Shinchu's broad blade. She flicked his katana out of the ensnarement of her greatsword towards his face, making the flat of it smack against his forehead, dazing him temporarily.

She smirked at her opening and took full advantage. Raising her sword, she unleashed a devastating diagonal slash from his left shoulder to right hip. It left him with a massive gash across his torso, and sent him soaring backwards. He landed with an audible * _THUNK_ * and groaned in pain.

Erza didn't let up in her attack. She charged forwards with her blade in tow, and let out a loud battle cry. Totomaru's eyes widened at her quick follow up. He quickly stood up and readied himself, with his sword once again in front of him. He was barely in time to parry Erza's first strike, only just managing to redirect the blow at the last second. He was under pressure.

Erza continued to rain down slashes and stabs from all directions, and Totomaru was nowhere close to escaping the pressure. He was becoming more and more defensive, and couldn't find an opportunity to escape and reset the playing field. He was being forced to back up to give him more time to react to Erza's sword. He grit his and teeth and grimaced as he kept giving up more and more ground. Erza's grin only widened.

But then something happened that neither of them expected. To their right, a section of the ceiling just straight up exploded, allowing a big plume of ash gray smoke to pour in and obscure their vision of what had dropped in from the spot on the ceiling. Both mages swiftly jumped away from each other, not wanting to risk maintaining the fight while the other could potentially receive backup in mere seconds.

When the smoke cleared, Totomaru paled. Erza grinned with delight. What the smoke revealed was Kakashi, standing over the knocked out form of Aria. He had both hands in his pockets and a laid back posture. He was eye smiling. He took one hand out of his pocket and waved at Erza. "Yo!" He greeted her.

Erza smiled and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. She waved back. "Hey!" She responded.

Totomaru scowled and jumped back even further. His mind was going at a hundred miles per minute. _Damnit. If that guy was able to defeat Aria I need to go full out from here. I need to use the rainbow fire on my katana, and probably also-_

"Too late." He heard a voice directly behind him.

He turned around in complete shock, to see Kakashi standing behind him. "H-how?!" He stuttered in surprise.

Kakashi just smirked. Without any warning whatsoever, he hit Totomaru with a crash magic laced punch. Said fire mage's eyes widened at the raw strength behind the blow. Only one thought went through his mind before he lost consciousness. _I never had a chance..._

Totomaru was sent flying at the wall at supersonic speeds, making a crater where he impacted it. He slid down the wall, knocked out cold.

Kakashi shunshin'd back to where Erza was standing. She had requipped back into her regular Heart Kruez armour, and had her arms crossed with a bemused smile on her face. "You're too strong for your own good, Kakashi." She told him with a laugh.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and eye smiled. "Maybe I am." He responded, also laughing.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

Kakashi and Erza had regrouped with Elfman, Aki, Gray, and Happy, and the team was now heading to the head of the mechanical beast, where they assumed Jose would be.

And after only a few minutes of searching, they assumption was proven correct. They found Jose leaning on one palm upon his throne-like chair. His smirk was wide as ever, and his hat covered his eyes ominously. As they approached, he leaned forward and began to clap sarcastically.

"My, my, well done. I never imagined you would be able to take out my Elemental Four so quickly." He leaned back in his chair, putting a single hand on his forehead and sighing to accentuate his disappointment. "What a shame." He said, lifting his head slightly and showing a malevolent glint in his eye.

He stood up. Dark purple magical energy began to flow around him like a great fire. Erza's eyes widened. _What a sickening magic aura! The amount of animosity and evil eminating from it almost makes me sick!_ She thought in disgust.

Kakashi watched him carefully. _This guy is way stronger than the rest of his guild. I'm going to have to be careful around this one._ Kakashi went over his options in his head. _I doubt I'll have to resort to anything above my skeletal susano'o, but I don't think I can afford to hold back against him. Even if he dies in the end._ Kakashi thought grimly.

Jose sneered. "Just the fact that Makarov has this many powerful wizards in his band of misfits... IT SICKENS ME!" He finished with a scream. "Phantom Lord has always been the number one guild, and it will stay that way." He added.

She raised a hand at them. Dark purple magical energy began to swirl around it. "Which will make it all the more fun to kill you lot." He said.

Erza grit her teeth. "Damn you!" She yelled. Requipping her black wing armour, she charged at the guild master of Phantom Lord, using her armour's power of flight to aid her rush.

Jose smirked at the success of his taunt. As Erza's sword approached him, he simply batted her sword away with his magic infused palm.

Now, the black wing armour is no normal suit of steel. It's a specialized armour that increases the user's speed and offensive power. But it's no normal boost. The black wing armour allows the user incredible power on single strike attacks. It is used best for attempting one hit knockouts, or attacking once and retreating before attacking again.

What does this mean for Erza? Well, due to the armour focusing all her energy and focus into that single hit, said blow getting knocked to the side threw her off balance far more than a normal attack would.

Erza grit her teeth in pain as her body was slammed sideways into the concrete beneath her. She was lucky that her sword didn't impale her during her fall. _Damnit... that's never happened before..._ she realized.

She looked up, only to see Jose grinning down at her with a raised hand. His signature dark magic was swirling around it. She grit her teeth and braced for impact.

But suddenly, she found her world spinning. The strange feeling and sight only lasted for an eighth of a second before she appeared in some kind of strange room. Could she even call it that? It was massive, and all black. The only thing she could see were these aquamarine, hexagonal platforms. Hell, she was standing on one of them. She looked around her in utter bewilderment. _Where the hell am I?_

She cupped her hands around her mouth. "HELLO!?" She yelled. Nothing. Nothing but her echoing voice, slowly fading from existance.

Erza considered exploring, but in the end decided it would probably get her nowhere. At the same time though, she couldn't help but feel this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was forgetting something.

Then it hit her. All those years ago, back when Natsu first joined the guild. Back when Fairy Tail required new members to go on their first mission with a more experienced mage of the guild. It was then, when she first had the technique used on her.

FLASHBACK

 _"Now, we shall complete these requests as fast as possible. Clearing three bandit encampments shouldn't take longer than an hour." Natsu stated with a dead stare._

 _Erza frowned, forgetting about what she was saying earlier. "I suppose, but the train rides combined will be at least a few days."_

 _"I don't know what a train is, but we're using my preferred method of travelling." Natsu responded, surprising her._

 _Never the less, she just accepted it. "Which is?..." She asked him._

 _"Teleportation." He stated, grabbing her shoulder._

 _"Kamui!"_

FLASHBACK END

 _That_ was where she had remembered it from. Kamui, some kind of space/time technique that she now assumed was linked to Natsu and Kakashi's eyes. Thought, last time she had Kamui used on her, Natsu was directly touching her, and she had ended up straight at the bandit camp, not in this... place.

 _Maybe Kakashi uses a long range version of it, while Natsu only uses a close range version?... No, now that I think about it, Kakashi also used a close range version of Kamui when he was fighting Gildarts. So does that mean Natsu can do the far range version?_ Erza thought. She shook her head and requipped back to her heart kruez armour. "God, those two are so confusing sometimes." She said to herself.

But before she could do anything else, her world began to spin yet again. Once more, she found her self spinning out of existence. She mentally sighed in exasperation. _Here we go again._

And then she was back in Earthland. Back in the fight with Jose. She fell to one knee from her momentary disorientation. "Erza!" She heard Aki call from her left. Shakily, she rose to her feet. Along with Aki were Gray and Elfman. She looked in front of her and saw Kakashi in a hand to hand confrontation with Jose. She walked over to her friends.

"You okay, Erza?" Gray asked with a concerned expression.

Erza nodded. "Yep. I don't really know quite what happened, but I'm fine." Erza responded. She experimentally rolled the shoulder that hit the ground when she was parried by Jose. She winced in pain. "On second thought, my shoulder could do with some of Natsu's healing jutsu." She admitted.

"Can you fight?" Aki asked her impatiently. Gray nodded. "Yeah. Kakashi said he'd hold Jose off until you were ready to fight again."

Erza grimaced. "I think I can. But I'm going to have to only use my left arm, and I'm right handed." She told them.

But before any of the mages in front of her could respond, a loud from Jose interrupted them and stole their attention.

" **AMATERASU FORMULA 77** " Jose roared, holding his palm forward. Kakashi was standing roughly twenty meters away. A numerous amount of purple seals formed around him in a circle.

Aki's eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! He knows all the way up to seventy seven?!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

Erza, Gray, and Elfman turned to her for an explanation, but she ignored them. "KAKASHI! WATCH OUT, THOSE ARE GOING TO-"

Jose grinned evily. "TOO LATE!" He yelled. Kakashi swore mentally as he realized what Jose's spell would do. "DIE!" Jose roared.

Inside the circle of violet seals, a series of powerful explosions went off. Kakashi was hit directly. The other members stared in shock. Never before had they actually seen Kakashi get hit by an attack. "Kakashi!" They cried out in worry.

Kakashi came spinning out of the circles incredibly fast. He shot straight up and hit the ceiling so hard that he went straight through it, leaving a hole in it. "No!" Erza exclaimed.

"ERZA! LOOK OUT!" She heard her friends call to her. She only had time to turn her head before a dark purple beam of energy smacked straight into her torso, sending her tumbling away.

Aki and Gray growled at glared at Jose with a murderous stare. Aki ran straight at him, Gray alongside her. They both surrounded their fists with their respective elements. Simultaneously, they swung their fists at Jose, attempting to land a hit. But Jose was too fast. He evaded their attacks by simply leaning this way and that, knocking away the ones that he couldn't avoid.

He began to taunt them. "Hmph. To think that the dragon slayers of Fairy Tail would be so weak. Gajeel wouldn't even have trouble taking you two on." He sneered at them.

Aki snarled. "Damnit! You think we couldn't take that metal head on!?" She retaliated.

Jose smirked. "Yes." He responded, and followed up with a roundhouse kick that hit Aki in the stomach, sending her flying through the air to land right beside her.

Gray watched Aki fly. "Aki!" He shouted in concern. This was the only lapse in concentration Jose needed. He quickly stamped his foot on the ground, shaking it slightly. " **Dark Eruption!** " He declared.

A pillar of violet magic shot forth from the ground right under Gray. He cried out in pain and was sent straight backwards just as Aki was only moments before. He landed beside Aki with a thud, barely remaining conscious.

Seeing his comrades being taken down so easily scared the living daylights out of poor Elfman. But he didn't call himself a man for nothing. Braving his fears, he raised his arm high into the air. "ARGHH!" He roared. " **Take Over! Black Bull Arm!** " He exclaimed.

But when he cast his gaze to where Jose was standing mere moments beforehand, he saw nothing. "Wha-?" He breathed, confused.

Then he heard a voice beside him, which made his blood run cold with fear. "Hah... you're too slow." Jose declared, and punched Elfman in the jaw. The take over mage went straight into the floor, cracking the ground from his devastating landing. He was rendered unconscious almost immediately.

With no enemies remaining, Jose returned to his stance with his arms folded behind his back. He walked towards the four downed mages of Fairy Tail with a victorious smirk.

Aki was barely conscious. Her vision was blurry. All she could make out was Gray laying right beside her in the same state she was. It was almost completely silent. The only thing she could hear was the sound of Jose's footsteps echoing towards them.

 _Is this it?... is this where I die?... At the hands of legal guild master no less?..._ She thought with disdain. She didn't want to die. Not one bit. She still had so much more to do! And she still hadn't found Flamaria. _But if I'im going to die... there's still one last thing to do..._

"G-Gray..." She croaked out, using her damaged arms to crawl inches closer to him. Gray managed to crack open his eyes just a smidgen when he heard her.

"Gray, I don't want to die... and I know you don't either..." She said in the same weak croak. "But if I'm going to die, I'm glad the last person I was with was you..." She shakily reached out her arm and cupped his cheek with her hand. "I love you, Gray."

Gray's eyes managed to widen, despite his condition. "A-Aki... I-" But his response was cut off. A high pitched sound had begun to fill the space with it's presence.

The distinct noise of chirping song birds.


	28. CH-28: Lightning Strikes

A bright, sky-blue light burst forth from Jose's chest, right where his heart would be located. Every person in the room froze, staring at the chirping lightning extruding from Jose's torso. The guild master stared down at it as if it were some sort of extra appendage that had suddenly grown. He coughed, and blood spurted from his mouth.

The electricity began to die down, only to reveal a bare hand. It curled into a fist, and slowly retracted backwards from Jose. Said mage fell to his knees, eyes wide as saucers. Only seconds later, the light mage gone dark toppled to the floor dead. Standing behind him was a badly injured Kakashi. The only thing remaining of his shirt was a small portion near the bottom left hanging on by a thread. His jacket was completely obliterated. Most, if not all of the right side of his torso was badly burned, and his right arm was hanging limply at his side. His headband had been blown completely off, leaving his bangs to fall freely around his face. The most shocking thing, however, was the fact that his ever-present mask had been torn off completely, revealing his whole face.

Kakashi was panting heavily, and his eyes were half-lidded. Erza, along with the two other mages who were still conscious watched with wide eyes as his eyes shut completely, and he toppled over unconscious. The two dragon slayers soon followed suit and faded into sleep, however Erza managed to stay awake. She used her good arm to drag her powerless body over to where Kakashi lay on his back.

The once grand room was in shambles. Rubble lay everywhere, covering the surface of the majority of the room. The once rich, red carpet was now a dull maroon colour, having been covered in grime and dirt. Silence filled the space. Not sound could be heard.

She smiled serenely and took in his features. He really had it all. "Thank you..." She whispered, and pressed her lips to his forehead before drifting off into unconsciousness beside him.

With a swirl, the two masked beings Natsu had summoned were sucked into the Kamui dimension. He knew the war was over when he heard the sound of chirping birds. Kakashi never missed.

"So it's finally over..." Mavis said with a sigh behind Natsu. "Finally."

Natsu turned around and nodded. "Yep. Kakashi almost always uses that attack as a finisher." He explained.

Mavis tilted her head. "Huh?" She asked, confused.

Natsu smirked at her. "Did you hear that sound earlier?"

Mavis furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Birds, right?" She asked for confirmation.

"Mhm. There's only one jutsu in existence that makes that sound, one that Kakashi invented himself, and one that is near impossible to avoid." Natsu explained.

"Incredible! and you said Kakashi created it himself?" Mavis asked.

"That's correct. It's called the Raikiri, or lightning blade. It's an improved version of his original jutsu, called Chidori, or one thousand birds." Natsu said.

Mavis' eyes lit up. "Ah, so that explains the noise then. So what does it do?" She asked.

"To put it simply, it's a jab. But it's a jab like no other. Instead of raw power, the user of this jutsu must move at incredible speed, and focus chakra into the point of contact. If done right, the person's chakra will actually become visible, and give of the distinct noise from which the technique gets it's name." Said Natsu.

"Is it THAT rare for someone's chakra to become visible?" Mavis questioned.

Natsu nodded. "Incredibly so. Instead of using the chakra to _create_ lightning, the chakra actually becomes visible to the naked eye naturally."

"Extraordinary..."

The next day, things had finally calmed down to a degree. Under the supervision of Magic Council representative Lahar, the rune knights questioned the prominent members of Fairy Tail, along with the Element Four of Phantom Lord. Luckily, the raw evidence was strong enough to overcome the Council's prejudice against Makarov, and Phantom Lord was disbanded for it's crimes.

At the Magic Council headquarters, there was a meeting taking place. Topic? The death of Wizard Saint Jose Porla at the hands of Kakashi Hatake of Fairy Tail. Normally, the demise of a Wizard Saint ranked wizard would cause a somewhat large commotion in the council, but never before had these circumstances befallen them. A wizard saint, declaring war against another guild, and being killed by a regular wizard.

"Not even officially recognized as S-Class!" Exclaimed a council member, brandishing Kakashi's guild file.

The Chairman ran his hand through his hair and grumbled. "Grr... how could a wizard saint be taken out by a simple guild mage?" He questioned. "Surely he had assistance from his fellow guild members?"

Councillor Siegrain let out a haughty snort. A knowing smirk smirk flitted across his tattooed face. "Oh ho! Look at this! All records show he did it by himself actually." He gave off a sarcastic look of being impressed.

A buxom young woman with deep purple hair, named Ultear, smirked alongside him. "Is that so? How interesting..." She said.

The other, more elderly council members growled at them. "This is no time for such childishness, Councilwoman Ultear, Councillor Siegrain! If the news that a Wizard Saint was bested by some run-of-the-mill mage, all hell could break loose! The Council's reputation will be ruined!" The Chairman exclaimed with an edge of anxiety.

"I wouldn't be so quick to label this 'Kakashi', a run-of-the-mill mage, Chairman." An short, old man named Yajima pointed out. "I'd think that overpowering a Wizard Saint would be enough to bring a person out of that category."

The Chairman rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Ugh... so what do you propose we do about it?"

Councillor Yajima rubbed his chin. "Hmm... well obviously we need to appoint a new Wizard Saint... what about that young requip wizard from Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet? People have been saying for years that her power rivals that of a Wizard Saint, and Jose was ranked last among the Wizard Saints."

Siegrain smirked and raised an eyebrow. "I second the notion." He declared. Ultear soon followed.

Another Councillor raised their hand to speak. "Why appoint Scarlet, when we can simply appoint Kakashi himself? He's already proven beyond a doubt that he's got the capabilities for it."

Yajima shook his head. "No. We don't know anything about this guy yet. He may be strong, but without the diplomatic and problem solving capabilities, you can't be a Saint. Just look at the Gildarts Clive case."

The Councillor nodded his head. "Yes, I suppose so. Very well then, I support the appointing of Erza Scarlet in replacement of Jose Porla."

The Chairman slammed his gavel down on the desk. "Enough of this talk! The selecting of a Wizard Saint is not a decision that must be rushed! We will all think on this matter over the coming week, and come to a decision a week today." The Chairman said. "Dismissed!"

It was the first time their table had all it's team members actually seated there, and the sight was truly something to behold.

At the head of the picnic table, Natsu and Mavis levitated, forgoing the use of chairs as usual. While Natsu sat in his classic cross legged posture, Mavis was much more casual, leaning back with her arms behind her head. The end of the table opposite to the pair was flush with the wall, so nobody could sit there.

On one lateral side of the table, Erza and Kakashi sat side by side. The pair of them could of looked better to say the least. Erza's entire right arm was covered in bandages all the way up to her shoulder. Kakashi's own wrappings covered the majority of his torso, only revealing his left shoulder and arm. The tape replaced his regular mask, and since he no longer had a headband, his bangs fell freely around his face.

Gray and Aki were sitting opposite Erza and Kakashi, with Happy cheerfully munching on a trout upon Aki's head. They looked a little worse for wear, but overall fine. The pair did seem to be sitting a little closer together though...

Only the two floating wizards were in normal health. Natsu scanned them over with his visible eye. "Heh, you guys look like crap." He taunted.

"Yeah? Well maybe if you helped us kick Jose's ass it would've gone differently!" Aki snapped.

Natsu sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Haha... perhaps..." He said.

Mavis shrugged with a wide grin on her face. "Besides, we were too busy fighting some jerk named Black Steel Gajeel, we couldn't have helped." She excused.

In his mind, Natsu's jaw dropped. The others ate up her answer without a second thought! He looked to his right at Mavis with narrowed eyes. _So did she just forget to mention that we beat that guy before they were even fighting the element four?_ He looked over at the others again. _Unbelievable._

He turned to the bar, and raised his hand to his mouth. "Hey Mira! Could I get a tuna poke salad and glass of orange juice please?!" He shouted.

Mira looked up from the bar and waved. "Coming right up!" She confirmed.

Natsu sighed and rested his head on his arms upon the table. "I'm starving, I haven't eaten since before we started fighting those shitty Phantom guys." He groaned.

Mavis looked around the table excitedly. "Wait, we do food now, too? When I was guild master we could only do drinks!" She asked.

"We only started serving food when Mira became the barkeep, so we got a kitchen installed since Mira decided she wanted to take up cooking." Gray explained.

Natsu grinned. "Great, huh? Kakashi and I only found out recently, since before we left Mirajane was still an active mage."

Mavis raised an eyebrow. "What made her change?" She asked.

Aki looked at her. "Basically, everyone thought her little sister died, but when Natsu came back, he proved that she's actually still alive. Just in a different dimension or something like that." She explained.

Mavis adopted a blank expression. "Ok, now I'm even more confused."

Natsu moved his head slightly to look at her. He waved her off. "Just forget it." He advised.

Suddenly, Natsu head shot up and he stared intently at the second floor loft. He began to grin. Mavis, being the only one not talking, was the only one to notice this strange behaviour. "Natsu?" She questioned.

Natsu rubbed his hands together. "Hehe... Laxus is back." He informed her.

Mavis tilted her head. "Laxus?"

"A guy I was friends with before Kakashi and I left. He's really strong, too. If I don't use chakra, he could actually go even with me." Natsu rubbed his chin. "Now that I think about it, maybe he would actually win against me now."

Mavis shrugged. "Huh. I couldn't even picture you losing a fight to be honest."

"Well, there's a first time for everything." He said, then leaned in close so he could whisper to her. "I'm gonna go scare him. This'll be HILARIOUS! Trust me." Natsu promised.

With that being said, Natsu slipped into the floor, disappearing from view. Mavis turned her head up to the second floor, to see if she could catch a glimpse of the upcoming event. She only had to wait a mere second.

"AH! WHAT THE HELL!?" A booming voice exclaimed from above.

A flash of yellow light flooded the room from the loft. *BOOM*. The guild went silent, watching the spectacle.

"YEEEEEOUUUUCH!" She head a drawn out yelp. It sounded suspiciously like Natsu. The people meandering around the guild hall tried to stifle laughs, but most were failing miserably.

Mavis sighed as the guild began to calm down and return to normal. Natsu was still not back, and he and whoever he said he was scaring were still not visible from where she was. _What did he get himself into this time..._

Natsu winced as he rubbed his forearm. "Why'd you have to go and do that? It stings." He complained.

A tall, muscular man in a purple, button up shirt turned around. The long, fur coat hanging off his shoulders fluttered back to it's neutral position. He sniffed. "It's your own damn fault for surprising me."

Natsu shot him a deadpan look. "Who the hell attacks as their first response to being attacked in their own guild hall?"

Laxus turned back around. "Whatever. At least one person in this blasted guild is strong." He walked up to the railing and leaned on it.

Natsu stepped forwards and joined him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Laxus swept his hand in a fanning motion in front of him. "Look at these fools. All of them are complete weaklings! How can Fairy Tail be a feared and respected guild when we have all these... these idiots!" He ranted.

Natsu fell silent for a moment as he looked over the members of Fairy Tail, simply enjoying the day. He sighed. "Well, you're probably the only person here who actually cares about that really. If you want to be part of a guild like you described, why not go join one?" Natsu questioned.

Laxus clenched his fists. "I... I... I don't know!" He exclaimed. "I just... I don't... I want to... I honestly don't know." He admitted.

Natsu shrugged. "Perhaps you should think on it more." He advised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Laxus asked, but when he turned to look at the boy, he had simply vanished. When he peered over the railing, he saw Natsu back at his table as if he'd never left. Without another word, Laxus disappeared into a flash of lightning.

"So what was that?" Kakashi asked as soon as Natsu returned.

"Well, Laxus is back." Natsu explained. "And he's kind of an ass now, unfortunately."

Aki groaned and slammed her forehead on the table. "Eugh, don't get me started. He's totally insufferable now!" She groaned.

Gray sighed and leaned his face upon his palm. "Yep. Can't even talk to the damn guy anymore without him going onnnnn and onnnnnn about how weak we all are and how he should be guild master instead of gramps."

Mavis narrowed her eyes. "Who invited him in in the first place?" She asked. As the one who created the guild, she was appalled at the prospect of someone like Laxus being in her guild.

"He's the Master's grandson." Erza said simply. "Also, he used to be better, but ever since Master exiled his son, Ivan Dreyar, he's been kinda moody." She explained.

Mavis grew a solemn look at rubbed her chin. "That... complicates things..." She muttered, then sighed. "As long as he doesn't do anything rash, I suppose it's fine." She admitted.

Aki snorted, and a few licks of fire left her nostrils. "Yeah, well if that assho-" Suddenly, the light seemed to leave the room, and the guild hall was plunged into pitch black darkness. "AH!" Aki exclaimed. "Who the hell turned off the lights?!"

Quickly enough, the once loud members of the guild were quieted down to faint whispers and mutters. The more experienced and powerful wizards in the room were able to sense the magic lingering in the darkness. Concrete evidence that this was no ordinary phenomena, but something induced by a spell.

Gray and Aki stood up and went back to back immediately. Years of working together as a team allowed them to do this through pure muscle memory. They held up their fists in front of them, which in turn began to swirl with their respective magics. Happy huddled defensively on their shoulders.

Kakashi simultaneously activated his sharingan and instinctively moved his hand to where his pouch of ninja tools would be, even though he no longer needed a physical container for them. Old habits die hard, and Kakashi suspected he would never be able to drop it. He stepped behind Erza, as he knew that she wouldn't be able to see through the pitch black like he could.

Natsu wrapped his arms around Mavis and pulled her into his lap, which unbeknownst to him, caused her to display a faint blush. He activated his basic sharingan, allowing him to see through the dark and wrapped a protective bubble of cobalt sand around the pair of them. With a few quick hand seals, he deftly performed the summoning jutsu and brought forth the small form of Shukaku. All Tenuki have eyes able to see through darkness, which would be perfect in the situation he found himself in.

He heard the voice of his tenant in his head. " **While I'm kinda miffed that you didn't summon me to meet Mavis, OR for the fight against Phantom, I suppose you could use some help here.** " Shukaku said and walked straight through the sphere of metal dust they were surrounded in.

"Just hurry up and tell me what the hell is going on out there!" Natsu hissed.

Shukaku looked around with his star-shaped irises. " **Well, actually I can't really see anything right now... Oh! Hold on, there's some big looking guy standing in front of Kakashi... holy shit he has a metal jaw; that's intense. There's also... HEY! What the- SOMEONE'S GRABBING ME!** "

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. _What?_ He thought in disbelief. Suddenly, the darkness abruptly faded, flooding the guild with light once again. Natsu released his bubble of cobalt, revealing to him four figures standing in the doorway of the guild hall. Erza gasped in shock.

The first one was a beast of man, standing at over six foot five, and having almost three feet from shoulder to shoulder. He wore a simple robe, turban, and strangely enough, a metal face plate only covering his jaw. The man's left eye was covered by a black eye patch. His tone was completely serious; deadpan.

The very polygonal man standing next to him was made completely of blocks, although it seemed as though there was a navy blue suit painted onto him. He wore a rounded bowler hat, strange glasses, and had a cream-colored scarf hanging around his neck. A knowing smirk was grafted across his blocky head.

The girl standing next to him had very cat-like features, even going as far as to shape her hair into pointed ears on the top of her head and paint whiskers on her cheeks. She had a wide smile upon her face, and cheerful eyes. Most importantly though, she had Happy and Shukaku wrapped up in a hug. The pair did NOT look like they were enjoying themselves, to say the least.

The last person had blond hair in a spiky manner and a darker skin tone. He had a crooked grin, and was absent mindedly shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. Could that be a part of his magic?

Aki blinked. She looked at the space between her and Gray, then at the cat lady. "Oi! Give back Happy you creep!" She shouted angrily. Then she saw what else the person held in her arms. "And hey, isn't that a smaller version of Natsu's transformation thing?" She whispered to Gray.

Gray peered at it, then raised his hand to his mouth, cupped. "Yeah, I think so." He responded. Aki shrugged. "Weird."

Erza spoke up in a shaky voice. "S-Simon? Wally? Milliana? and... Sho?" She questioned. "You can use magic now?"

Sho smirked. "Yep, it's not too hard, really." He answered cockily. Simon stepped forward. "Erza. We've come to take to back to the Tower of Heaven."

At the mere mention of the name, Erza's eyes widened and she flinched, taking a step backwards. All of a sudden, Aki burst out laughing, doubling over and clenching her stomach with her hand. Wally tilted his head at her. "What's so funny? You're not dandy at all." He said.

Simon sharply turned his eyes and stared at the blocky man. He gave him the evil eye. "Be quiet, Wally. We do NOT want a fight here." On que, Milliana let go of the two creatures she was holding on to. Shukaku simply disappeared into a poof of smoke, and Happy flew back to Aki.

Aki's laughter slowly died down, and she lifted her head to respond, wiping a tear away from her eye. "Oh, nothing. It's just that you guys somehow think that you can take one of our strongest mages, while ALL of us are in the room, including gramps, who happens to be a Wizard Saint." She pointed out. Sure enough, Makarov was sitting on the railing of the second floor loft, drinking from a wooden mug. He looked casual as ever. At the mention of his name, he lazily waved.

Sho smiled knowingly. "Heh. We don't need to take her by force... she'll come." He said. Reaching his hand back into his pocket, he pulled out a light blue lacrima and crushed it. The four aggressors began to disappear into white light. Milliana grinned cheekily and waved. "Bye bye Erzy!" She taunted.

Natsu reached forward, prompting his sand to shoot out and attempt to grab them, but they were already gone. He grit his teeth and slowly let his arm drop, and his sand followed suit and gradually flowed back into the gourd.

Silence. Everyone in the hall was staring at Erza, unblinking and unmoving. She shifted around uncomfortably and let her eyes dart around nervously. She didn't look like herself in the slightest, and subconsciously began to rub her arms anxiously.

Mavis recognized the situation. "Alriiiiight..." She broke the silence. "Let's go someplace else, shall we?" She prompted.

Kakashi stood up and patted Erza's shoulder, which seemed to snap her out of her stupor. She stood up beside him, and the pair walked out the main doors. Gray and Aki shrugged and followed, with Happy flying close behind.

Mavis looked behind her and over Natsu's shoulder, still sitting upon his lap. "Not a word of this to anyone, folks!" She called out to them all. With that said, Natsu floated out of the guild hall, carrying Mavis along with him.

The group of seven decided to meet at Aki and Happy's home, seeing as how it's the most out of the way place, not including Mavis and Natsu's. The five of them were huddled around a glass coffee table between two sofas. Aki's house was actually decently nice, not a complete mess like you'd might expect from someone like Aki.

Although the exterior of her cabin was just that, a small-looking log cabin, the interior was fairly modern, sporting a tile-counter kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a hallway leading to a bedroom and a bathroom, and of course the living room which they currently resided. The natural light provided by the large windows made the room feel like it had more room.

Seated upon the two couches, they all stared intently at Erza. "So." Kakashi began. "What was that about?" He asked.

Erza looked down. "It all started when I was-" She started, but was cut off by the door creaking open, revealing Natsu and Mavis.

Mavis was still sitting on Natsu instead of floating by herself. She had her legs hanging down over his crossed legs and her head resting on his shoulder. Her hands were folded on her lap. Natsu was forced into the awkward position of having to lean his head to the right or left just to see where he was going.

With a struggle, Natsu glided over to the coffe table. He saw the rest of them staring, and only held up a hand. "Don't ask." He said.

"As I was saying, this whole mess started when I was just a little girl..." Erza repeated. She proceeded to explain her time at the Tower of Heaven, including her old friends, her replaced eye, and their not-so-successful escape with Jellal and the others. By the end of her tale, the six others around her were looking down with solemn expressions.

"Which is why I have to face him, alone." Erza concluded. The rest of her team's heads snapped up and stared at her.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Kakashi exclaimed in an uncharacteristic outburst.

Erza nodded her head. "I am, and nothing is going to change my mind on this."

Mavis leaned forwards. "With all due respect, Erza, this is an incredibly... unwise decision." She advised.

Erza looked to the side. "This is just something I have to do on my own. I've been struggling with my past for my entire life. It's time to face it head on." She told them. "Besides, Jellal threatened to kill every last person in that tower If I brought someone else with me... "

Aki jumped to her feet with her fist aflame. "What the hell, Erza! Do you really believe in that guy's power against all of ours?" She questioned.

"I don't know." Erza said quietly. But it looked like she wanted to say yes. "It's just that... a small part of me believes that If I beat him, he'll go back to how he was before." She admitted.

Kakashi stared at her. "What about us, Erza? Do you really think we'll just let you go walk into a suicide trap alone?" He asked her.

Erza stared back at him. "Frankly, it's none of your business, Kakashi." She replied.

Kakashi's eyes widened briefly. Visions of Obito's body crushed under a rock, Rin's dead eyes staring back at him in the rain, and Minato's body with a plate-sized hole through it ran through his mind.

Kakashi grit his teeth and scowled. He stood up abruptly and walked towards the door. "Fine then, go run into a death trap. See if I care." He said coldly, and opened the door. He muttered under his breath, "Anybody close to Friend-Killer Kakashi dies in the end anyways." He walked out the door, and slammed it behind him, leaving the rest of the group in stunned silence.

"Natsu." Aki said in a quiet tone, breaking the silence. Natsu turned his head to look at her.

"Yeah?" He replied. Nobody really wanted to talk about what just happened.

Aki looked him dead in the eyes. "What did he mean by that last sentence? Why did he call himself Friend-Killer Kakashi?" She asked.

Natsu sighed. "You have to remember, Aki, you have the best senses out of anyone here. You were the only one who was able to actually hear that." He told her. "As for your question..." He trailed off.

"I don't remember too well, but I'm pretty sure he was awarded that nickname because he was the most ruthless ANBU Black Ops member Konoha had ever seen." He answered. "He was rumored to have even killed his own team member to complete a mission if I'm not mistaken."

Erza stared in shock. "What?! But that's not like him at all... He wouldn't... he just... wouldn't." She said shakily.

Natsu shrugged. "I know. Something changed him down the line somewhere. I don't really know much since I'm from a different village."

They sat in silence for a few more moments, before Erza stood up and marched to the door. "What are you doing?" Gray asked. All of them turned to await her response.

Erza put her hands on the doorknob. "I'm going to face Jellal." And she opened the door and walked out, leaving it to shut in her wake.

The remaining people in the home turned back to each other. "So." Gray said. Aki finished the question for him.

"What are we going to do?"


End file.
